Superhero
by everyrosehasitsthornxx
Summary: Clary Fray was heartbroken after her boyfriend of two years broke up  with her unexpectedly. She swore to never fall in love with another guy again  but then she meets Jace Lightwood. Can he heal her wounds? Or is she too  damaged?
1. Chapter 1: Memory

**Okay, so I am **_**not **_**the writer of this chapter. The person I beta for asked me to finish the story for her. So, the props for this amazing first chapter goes to CoolestxNerd, not me. I did beta it, but that's **_**all **_**I did in this chapter and for the next two. ~Icyfirelove3**

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><p><strong>Disclaimer: Unfortunately, my name is Michelle not Cassandra therefore I do not own The Mortal Instruments.<strong>

Chapter Song: Memory- Jackie Boyz

"_So how do you know when it's time to let go?  
>And throw away everything that you were fighting for.<br>How do you deal with something that's so real?  
>And give up on what was meant to be,<br>No we're just another memory."_

Clary's POV:

"I'm sorry, Clary. I just am not ready for a relationship right now."

I felt a tear fall from my eyes as I stared into Sebastian's eyes.

"Two years, Seb. Two years! You waited two years to decide that you are not ready for a relationship!" I shouted.

"I'm sorry, Clary. I never wanted to do this to you. I didn't know things would end up this way," he reasoned, reaching for me. I flinched.

"Just a few weeks ago, you said you wanted to move in with me."

"I know but things changed," he responded.

"Did you even love me?" I whispered.

"OF COURSE! Why would you even think otherwise?" he questioned, getting angry.

"You wouldn't do this if you loved me. This is the third time since January that you've broken up with me and it's only JUNE! Why get back with me if you were just going to break my heart again? We been through so much and you're just going to throw it away."

"I didn't plan this," he stated.

"No? You obviously been thinking about it for awhile because someone does not wake up one day and say 'HEY IM GOING TO BREAK UP WITH THE GIRL WHO LOVED ME UNCONDITIONALLY FOR TWO YEARS!' How long, Sebastian? Is it someone else?"

"NO! Clary, I would never cheat on you."

"Get out!" I shouted.

"Clary..."

"Just leave, Sebastian," I stated, looking away.

He stopped as if to say something but decided against it. I looked up just in time to see his retreating figure walk out the door. As soon as the door slammed shut, the tears fell. I laid on the couch and cried my eyes out. What was I going to do without him? Sebastian had always been my best friend. It felt like hours before my mom and Luke came home.

"Clary? Are you home?" she shouted.

"Over here," I answered. I winced at the roughness of my voice.

Jocelyn Fray walked into the living room and gasped. A lot of people think that my mom is beautiful with her red hair and slender body. Some people say I look like her. Personally, I don't see it. My mom was tall and beautiful. I was 5'3 and flawed in more ways than I could count.

"Oh, baby. What happen?" asked my mom, rushing towards me.

"Sebastian broke up with me, Mom."

"Oh, baby. I'm so sorry but it will all be okay. I promise, you'll get through it. It's only your first heartbreak. You'll find someone better."

"I don't want anyone else, Mom. I love Sebastian."

"I know you do, baby, but he doesn't deserve you. He doesn't know what a mistake he just did. Why don't you go upstairs and I'll bring you up a bowl of ice cream? We can watch movies," she suggested.

"I think I just want to be left alone, Mom," I responded, "thanks anyway."

I got up and walked upstairs. I laid in bed and stared at the ceiling. School starts in just three days. How was I going to face Sebastian? I got up and got ready for bed even though it was only nine o'clock. I put on a pair of shorts and Sebastian's shirt. I inhaled his scent. I laid in bed and let the tears fall. How was I going to get through this?

"Clary, you have to get out of bed. You can't keep sulking around," said my best friend, Maia.

I groaned as she shook me. I had been in bed for two days, crying.

"Yeah, Clare. You need to forget about Sebastian. Come with us to Java Jones. Your mom said you can stay out until eleven now," added my other best friend, Simon.

"Guys, I really don't want to go anywhere," I answered, pulling the blanket over my head.

"Please, Clare. School starts tomorrow. Java Jones is doing it's yearly back to school poetry slam," retaliated Simon.

"Si, I don't want to hear Eric talk about loins."

Simon and Maia chuckled.

"Come on. You need to get out the house," said Maia.

"Fine. I might as well do it now because tomorrow I'd have to get out of bed anyway."

I got out of bed and threw on a simple outfit. We walked the few blocks it took to get to get to Java Jones. As we got closer, I realized how much I didn't want to listen to people's poems about suicide, love, or heartbreak. I slowed my speed down so that Maia and Simon were walking ahead of me before I turned and ran.

"CLARY!" shouted Simon.

I laughed and continue to run.

Jace's POV:

"This is the start of something new, Jace. New place. New People. Aren't you excited?"

I sighed as my sister Isabelle rambled on during breakfast.

"Yes, Izzy. I'm so excited. Can't you tell?" I responded, sarcastically.

She frowned and narrowed her eyes at me.

"Jace, this is good for all of us. I know you're disappointed because you had to leave your friends but can you try to have an open mind?" asked Maryse, my foster mom.  
>"Okay, Mom," I answered with a sigh.<p>

"Good, why don't you guys go explore the city while I finished unpacking?"

"That sounds great! I'll go get Alec," exclaimed Isabelle, jumping from the table.

I shook my head as I followed her. We walked around the entire city of New York until it was almost nine o'clock.

"Uh, does anybody know how to get back home?" asked Alec, my brother and best friend.

"I have no clue," I answered.

"I think its this way," added Isabelle, pointed straight.

"I thought it was this way," counted Alec, pointed to the left.  
>"None of this looks familiar. Ask someone for directions," I exclaimed, exhausted, "Or call mom."<p>

"Let's go into this coffee shop," suggested Isabelle.

"CLARY!"

I turned to see a boy and a girl chasing down some girl. The boy looked like a typical geek. He wore one of those nerdy gamer t-shirts and glasses. The girl looked sort of geeky too. She had dark hair that was braided down her back and tan skin. She wore a blank tank top that hung loosely and black skinny jeans.I couldn't see the girl that they were chasing, she had her back towards us. All I could see was red hair and that she was pretty tiny.

She turned to face them. I stared at the girl. She was pretty. She had emerald green eyes. She wore black shorts and a green shirt that fell off the shoulder. Her green converse had splashes of paint which made me think she was an artist. Her eyes were rimmed red as if she was crying.

"I'm not going in there!" she shouted.

"COME ON!" shouted the girl, laughing.

"THAT'S IT!" exclaimed the boy before picking her up.

"SIMON LEWIS! YOU PUT ME DOWN!" yelled the girl, Clary but I could tell she was smiling.

"Excuse me," said Simon as he walked by us.

"Ugh, Si. This is embarrassing. Put me down," pleaded Clary.

"You'll be fine. You shouldn't have ran," said the other girl, laughing.

I watched as the boy walked her to an empty couch near the back and threw her down. She laughed and punched him. I stood there watching her laugh while Alec went to ask for directions. Clary's friend whispered something in her ear that must have been about me because suddenly she looked up at me. She smiled before turning back to her friends. I grinned.

"Hey, the guy wrote down directions for us," stated Alec.

I nodded. I glanced back for just a moment to see that she was staring at me. I grinned and winked at her. She blushed and looked away. My grinned widened before I turned back and followed Alec out the door.

**So basically this is just a little intro which is why it's so short. My chapters are usually long as some of you may know if you read my other story You Should Have Stayed. If you haven't read it, you should check it out.**

**For the fans of my first fanfic, I will be finishing it very soon. There will be likely one more chapter and then an epilogue.**

**Anyways, I would love to know everyone's opinion on this story. Should I continue or no?**

**Reviews make me smile :)**

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><p><strong>All that was not written by me but by CoolestxNerd who asked me to finish the story for her. And she was talking about You Should Have Stayed – an amazing fanfic of her that is almost finished. So go check it out! <strong>

**~Icyfirelove3**

**P.S. To all of CoolestxNerd's fan of this story, don't worry, I will start writing it. In the meantime, I'm posting her chapters. **


	2. Chapter 2: Toy Solider

*****AGAIN, THE PERSON I BETA FOR ASKED ME TO TAKE OVER FOR HER STORY. I DIDN'T WRITE THIS CHAPTER, ONLY EDITED IT. SO GIVE THE PROPS TO HER FOR WRITING IT (coolestxnerd) EVERYTHING AFTER THIS IS BY HER!*****

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><p><strong>Disclaimer: I do not own the characters unfortunately but I do own the story.<strong>

Chapter Song: Toy Soldier- Keri Hilson

"_He said that I will never have to fight again._

_He said that I will never have to cry again._

_He said he been to the battle field and my heart is safe with him._

_All my trust, I'll give to him._

_So I guess I fell in love with a toy solder"_

Jace's POV:

_I stood over his bloody body while he groaned in pain. His dark hair was matted against his forehead. I should feel some type of regret or sympathy but all I felt was anger. I wiped the sweat off my cheek. I looked down at my knuckles to find it covered in blood._

"_Jace, please," he begged._

"_Shut up. I didn't tell you to talk," I growled. I was surprised at the pure fury that was in my voice. I picked up a pipe from the ground and was about to hit him._

"_Jonathan, what are you doing?"_

_I turned to see my mother standing before me. She wore a white dress that was draped perfectly over her body. Her blonde hair flowed down her back and her hazel eyes stared at me with disappointment._

"_Mom, what are you doing here? I thought you were dead."_

"_I am, baby, but you need my guidance. This is not the situation I wanted you in when I sacrificed my life for you," she responded._

"_But, mom..."_

"_No, son. This is not what me and your father wanted for you. You must walk away."_

_I stared down at the pipe in my hand. Suddenly, it was gone. I looked up to say something to my mom but she was gone too. Somehow I had ended up in a ballroom. I wore a black suit and tie. I looked around and saw all these figures waltzing. I tried to see if I recognized someone. Isabelle. Alec. Anybody but every time I got close, the figures blackened and backed away from me._

_The only clear image I had was of a girl that sat at a fountain in the middle of the room. She had red hair and pale skin. She wore a green dress that went to her mid-thigh. I don't know why but I felt drawn to her. As if hearing me approaching, she stood up and looked at me._

"_Clary?" I asked surprised._

_She smiled before turning and running away._

"_WAIT!" I shouted, running after her._

_BOOM! I started running faster as I heard the gun go off. By the time I reached her, it was too late. She laid on the ground with blood surrounding her lifeless body. I looked up and all I saw was pitch black eyes. He pointed the gun at me. I closed my eyes as he pulled the trigger._

I jumped awake and groaned. I looked at the clock. Four am. I might as well stay up. I worked out a bit in our home gym before getting ready for school. First day of school was always a painful day. Well, for everyone that wasn't me.

"Jace, if you are not downstairs in five minutes Alec is going to leave you and you will be walking to school," shouted Isabelle.

"I've been ready, sis," I responded as I opened the door and smiled. She rolled her eyes and walked downstairs.

The car ride to school was quiet unless you counted Isabelle's excessive chatter. I glanced at Alec who just rolled his eyes.

"I want to join cheerleading. Do you think I could be a cheerleader, Jace?" she asked.

"No, most cheerleaders are hot," I answered. Alec chuckled.

Isabelle reached forward and smacked me.

"I'm hot. Guys like me, right Alec?"

"Uh, I'm your brother. Answering that would be considered incest," he answered.

I started cracking up. Isabelle frowned.

"I hate you guys. I know I'm hot," she started mumbling.

"We love you too, sis," I joked.

"Whatever. Jace, you know the rules right? I don't want to have to move again because of you," she lectured.

"Yeah. Yeah. Iz, I know," I responded.

"You always say that you know, Jace but then something happens like with Jordan."

We all got quiet. You could literally feel the tension in the air. As soon as we arrived at St. Xavier, I sprinted out of the car. Alec laughed.

"She's going to follow," he stated.

Isabelle narrowed her eyes at me.

"Are you thinking about leaving me? No way," she sneered.

I sighed and followed them to the office.

"Hi, uh, we're new here and need our schedules," said Alec to the secretary.

She looked about in her late thirties. She wore too much red lipstick and too much eye shadow, trying to be like the students I guessed. She gave us a once over and grinned at me. I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, last name?" she asked, staring at me.

"Lightwood," I answered.

"Your paperwork was right here. Now where did I put it?"

"Ms. Conrad, can I have the cheer schedule?"

The secretary looked up and nodded.

"Yes, Clary. Here you go," she answered, handing her a piece of paper.

My heart stopped. I looked up and stared at her. She looked a lot better than she did last night. She wore dark washed skinny jeans, black converse and a black shirt with some band logo on it.

"Thanks," she said. She glanced at it before looking up. Her eyes widened at the sight of me and I grinned.

"Clary, be a dear and help me look for their schedules. Last name, Lightwood."

She nodded and looked around the desk. She rolled her eyes and grabbed three pieces of paper from the top of the pile.

"I found it, Ms. Conrad. Uh, Alec Lightwood, Isabelle Lightwood and Jace Lightwood?" she asked.

We nodded and she handed the pieces of paper to Alec.

"Thank you, Clary. Good luck this year," said Ms. Conrad.

"No problem and thanks. I'll be back 4th period. It's my study period."

"Okay, I'll see you then."

I watched as she walked away.

"Jace! Are you listening to me? Of course you aren't. You were checking out that girl."

I shook my head as Isabelle's shrill voice interrupted my thoughts.

"What did you say?" I asked.

"We only have lunch together. Thank goodness we all have lunch together. I can't handle eating alone," said Isabelle.

"Iz, give us our schedules so we can get to class," stated Alec.

Isabelle sighed and handed us our schedules. We found our lockers and parted ways. I wandered through the halls, trying to find my class. When I finally found it, it was at least ten minutes into the class.

"You're late," said the teacher.

"No, really? I thought I was early," I responded, earning a few snickers from my classmate and a glare from the teacher.

"Just take a seat."

I nodded and surprisingly found the only empty seat was next to a beautiful redhead that I seemed to be seeing everywhere. I sat down and frowned. She didn't even look up at me like most the other girls in the class was.

"It seems we keep running into each other. I'm Jace Lightwood," I whispered to her.

"Clary Fray," she answered without looking up.

I stared at her, confused. I wasn't use to this. Girls always have been attracted to me but this girl, she didn't even want to look at me. I could probably get any girl I want at this school but something about this girl was different. I have never been the relationship guy. My "relationships" if you could even call it that usually last two weeks at the most and the girls were usually a little more wild. Clary looked more like the artistic nerd then the hot cheerleader that I was usually attracted to. Suddenly, she looked up and stared at me.

Clary's POV:

"Is there a reason you're staring at me like that?" I asked.

"Is there a reason why you aren't staring at me?" he retaliated.

I rolled my eyes. GREAT! I'm sitting beside a cocky jerk. I wasn't sure why this guy annoyed me. Maybe because he reminds me so much of Sebastian. I don't know but he made me uneasy. I moved around so that my body was facing towards him.

"Get over yourself, pal. Not everyone wants to look at you."

He leaned towards me.

"Everyone wants to look at me, little girl. You just haven't lived in my world long enough to realize it," he responded with a smirked.

I rolled my eyes and sat back. I took out my sketchbook and started drawing. My mom had to buy me a new one because the other one was filled with picture of Sebastian and me. As soon as the bell rang, I was out the door only to be stopped by Jace.

"You mind showing me to my next class?" he asked, smiling. I sighed as the I noticed the teacher staring at me.

"Sure, let me see your schedule," I answered.

He handed me his schedule and I frowned. It looked exactly like mine. How was this possible? I glanced at him to see that he was watching me curiously. I sighed and handed it back to him.

"Looks like you get to spend your entire day with me well except for lunch," I stated. He smiled.

"Are we going to be best friends forever?" he asked in a girly voice.

I giggled and rolled my eyes.

"No, you'll probably have other friends before lunch."

I walked away without stopping to see if he would follow me. We went through second and third period quickly. Jace went with me to the office during forth. We were walking to fifth period when I saw him. Sebastian leaned against the locker, talking to Aline Penhallow. I could tell he was flirting because he had that face, the face he use to make to me. I grabbed Jace's hand and sped up.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing," I answered, stiffly.

We walked into our fifth period class, Statistics and I looked around. Maia sat near the back with an empty seat beside of her. I silently hoped that there wasn't another empty seat beside me so that Jace would be forced to sit somewhere else because he was really annoying me with all his sarcastic comments but no such luck. There was a seat right behind me. _Please don't let him follow me. Please don't let him follow me._Of course, the angels weren't with me because he followed right behind me.

"Hey, Clare. How's classes?" asked Maia.

"Boring," I answered, chuckling, "Maia, this is Jace. Jace, this is Maia Roberts."

"Hello," greeted Jace.

"Hi, uh, is your last name Lightwood?"

Jace nodded, staring at her suspiciously.

"Oh," Maia answered, looking away. I stared at her.

I was just about to ask what was wrong when the teacher came in.

"Hello, my little ducklings," gushed Ms. Fairchild.

Jace, Maia and I looked at each other and giggled.

"Statistics is by far one of my favorite sections of math..." she started but was interrupted by someone walking in.

My heart dropped. Maia reached over and patted my arm. Sebastian stood in the doorway, smiling. I looked around. Crap. The only seat left was in front of Maia.

"Oh, Mr. Verlac, you are late," said Ms. Fairchild.

"I do apologize, Ms. Fairchild. My locker wouldn't open."

I stared at him as he spoke. He wore a baby blue polo and dark washed jeans.

"Just take a seat, Mr. Verlac. And don't be late again," she warned.

He nodded before looking around. His eyes connected with mine and I looked away. He walked to the seat and sat down. His back was tense. Maia kept making faces behind his back, making me laugh. When the bell rang, I threw all my books into my bag and waited on Jace. I watched from the corner of my eye as Sebastian put his stuff.

"I'm hungry, Jace. Let's go," I whined, loud enough for Sebastian to hear. I could see Sebastian tense.

"Okay, bossy," joked Jace, "Let's go."

He extended his arm to me, and I narrowed my eyes. He winked and smiled at me before glancing to Sebastian. I smiled as I realized why he wanted to hook arms. His smile widened as I took his arm.

"Maia, you ready?" I asked.

"Yeah, we have to find a table before we find Simon," she answered.

I nodded as we walked out. I could feel Sebastian's eyes on me and Jace but I continued to walk as if I didn't care. When we entered the quad, we walked over to the fountain. Maia left to find Simon and I went with Jace to get food.

"Thanks for that. I don't know if I would have been able to walk out if you hadn't done that," I said.

"It's no big deal. Ex boyfriend?" he asked.

"Yeah, recent as in we just broke up like three or four days ago."

"That's rough. How long were you together?" he asked as he placed his hand at the small of my back to maneuver through the crowd.

"Two years," I answered, taking a deep breath.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, looking down at me, "I didn't mean to pry."

"It's okay. I just hate talking about it. It still kinda hurts," I explained as we got into line.

"Well, you're too pretty to be hurt," he responded.

I blushed. Suddenly, I looked behind him to Sebastian walking towards us. I sighed. Jace glanced back and frowned.

"Clare, can we talk?" asked Sebastian walking beside me as I went through line.

"About what, Seb? I don't really want to talk to you."

"But..." he started.

"But nothing. Leave me alone."

I started walking away when I heard a smash followed by Sebastian's voice but it wasn't to me.

"Hey, pretty boy. What are you looking at?" sneered Sebastian.

"I'm looking at a dickhead," answered Jace.

I turned to see Jace's food scattered on the ground. He stood face to face with Sebastian. I could see the tenseness in Jace's arms. I walked over and pulled Jace's arm with my free hand.

"Come on, Jace. Your brother and sister are waiting for us," I whispered.

Sebastian glanced at my hand on Jace's arm. His eyes turned black as they fell on me. Sebastian turned and walked away.

"Come on, Jace. You can eat some of my food."

When we got to the table, Maia and two other people who I assumed was Jace's siblings staring at him.

"Jace, don't do this again," whispered his sister, although we could all hear her, "I refuse to move because of you."

"I didn't start this one, Isabelle," he whispered back.

I patted his arm reassuringly. He smiled. I had a bad feeling that this was going to a very interesting school year. My new friend was hiding something. And I've never been one to resist solving a mystery.

**Oh No! Jace has a secret! LOL**

**Thanks to all those who reviewed the previous chapter. It made me feel great cause I wasn't sure if anybody would really like it. You guys definitely assured me that there would be some fans.**

**I will try to get my next chapter up really soon! I start school and work in two weeks and that's when it'll take a little more time for me to update but I'll try to update really quick while it's still summer.**

**There was, I believe, 9 reviews for the first chapter. How about we try for 15? The faster we get to 15, the faster I'll update.**

**Reviews make my day :)**

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><p><strong>***So, that was all her, not me. One more after the next (meaning the fourth chapter) then will be me. Sorry this took so long, I didn't get off my lazy put to get it and post it. And I didn't even write it…Yeah….blame school. THANK COOLESTXNERD FOR THIS BRILLIANT WORK, NOT ME! But you can give me props for beta-ing ;D)<strong>


	3. Chapter 3: Letting Go

*****THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTE THAT COOLESTXNERD WROTE, AFTERWARDS IT WILL BE ME. BUT THIS AS WELL AS THE TWO PERVIOUS CHAPTERS WAS ALL HER.*****

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><p><strong>Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, sadly. It would be amazing if I owned Jace :)<strong>

Chapter song: Letting go- Maribelle Anes

"_I'm letting go, no looking back  
>cause baby you're the past.<br>I'll find somebody that lasts longer  
>There's no more pictures on my wall, don't want them anymore.<br>Replace them with a love that's stronger."_

Jace's POV:

My blood was boiling during lunch. Isabelle and Alec stared at me, probably hoping that I wasn't going to fly off the handle. Unfortunately, that dick Sebastian knocked my tray out of my hand so I was left with no food to distract me. Suddenly an apple was placed in front of me. I looked up at Clary who smiled at me.

"You can have it. I'm getting full anyways."

I smiled and held the apple in my hand. "What do you have next, Jace?" asked Isabelle.

"Music. What about you?"

"Math with uh, Fairchild." I glanced at Clary and she giggled.

"What's funny?" asked Alec.

"Nothing," we answered at the same time.

Alec and Isabelle glanced at each other before staring at us.

"Hey, we should go. Music is across campus," stated Clary. I nodded and followed her.

"Do we have to sing during music?" I asked.

"Sometimes. Why? You can't sing?" joked Clary.

"On the contrary, little girl, I am a very good singer," I retaliated.

She laughed and grabbed my hand. We walked into class to see Sebastian sitting near the windows. He looked up as we walked in. Clary dropped my hand and looked away. I gently placed my hand on her back and urged her to move to the opposite side of the room. I glanced at Sebastian whose eyes followed us. I glared at him. I don't know why I was being so protective, I just met this girl but I wasn't going to let this douche hurt her again.

"Is this, uh, Mr. Kline nice?" I asked, trying to distract her from Sebastian.

"Mr. Kline is one of my favorite teachers besides the art teacher, Mrs. Gilmore," she said.

"Can you sing?" I asked, leaning back and staring at her.

She shrugged. "Something like that."

I was about to asked what she meant when the teacher walked in. Mr. Kline was an old guy with white hair. He wore a suit that probably made him sweat considering the AC in the school was broken. You could tell he connected with his students because he greeted everyone individually. He handed out the syllabus and began explaining the class. I was pretending to read the piece of paper when I heard Clary's name.

"Please expect to sing every now and then. I have never taught a class that didn't involve the students. If you cannot sing, it is not a problem. I can find other ways for you to participate. We do have one person that can sing though. Miss Fray, would you like to show the class your talent?"

I glanced at her and smiled. She blushed and walked forward."Okay, well I wrote this song late last night."

Mr. Kline smiled and walked to the big piano in the middle of the room. Clary glanced at him and waited for his nod.

"_Change, I began with a brand new start to the feel of my broken heart  
>I lost so many different people<br>Blame, I point my finger at the space and time 'cause you was always on my mind  
>You were the only one that made me fall<br>I hate, the way you look right back at me and flash back the memories  
>How does this make us equal?<br>I'm ashamed,  
>I bow my head down when our eyes meet<br>Cause baby you destroyed my sanity  
>I cannot believe<br>just what you did to me"_

I stared at her as the words flowed out of her mouth. Her voice was beautiful. She glanced at me as she sang and I smiled. Mr. Kline started following the rhythm that Clary started with the piano, bringing the song alive.

"You're amazing," I mouthed. She smiled and continued to sing.

_"I can't let it take over my mind  
>I gotta let you go<br>cause you ain't worth the fight_

_I'm letting go, no looking back  
>cause baby you're the past<br>I'll find somebody that lasts longer  
>There's no more pictures on my wall<br>Don't want them anymore  
>replace them with a love that's stronger<em>

_Pain,  
>I'm all about finding the cure, right about now<em>

_I'm not too sure where I should keep on searching  
>Strange,<br>how you forget me just like that, all we've been through, it don't mean jack  
>I'm young so I'll keep on learning<br>My brain,  
>hurts and is feeling way too small, I cannot keep on holding on<br>I feel like it is burning  
>Erase,<br>I wanna try and remove it all  
>my mistakes deserve some hope<br>I still cannot believe  
>just what you did to me"<em>

I looked around at the faces of my classmates. Everyone was staring at her like I was. Their faces filled with amazement and wonder. I think I even saw some tears in some of the female's eyes. I'm sure a lot of them could relate to the lyrics. When did she say she wrote this? Last night? She must have written it about Sebastian. I looked over at where he sat beside his friends. He sat stone faced as he stared at her.

"_I can't let it take over my mind  
>I gotta let you go<br>cause you ain't worth the fight_

_I'm letting go, no looking back  
>cause baby you're the past<br>I'll find somebody that lasts longer  
>There's no more pictures on my wall<br>don't want them anymore  
>replace them with a love that's stronger"<em>

Clary turned to Mr. Kline and some signal passed between them and the beat slowed a bit. I grinned as Clary stopped singing and began speaking the words, I guess she was rapping.

_"Raise your hand if you miss somebody  
>but you know that you cannot trust nobody<br>They say they are sorry  
>but that ain't the truth<br>Baby you know the deal  
>you can only trust you<br>But at the same time  
>you be crying<br>wishing that they'd come around  
>but then again, sometime<br>a better person will be found  
>The past is the past<br>Let the world take its course  
>Friends can change<br>but you will find even more"_

She looked at Mr. Kline and the original melody started again as she started singing.

"_I'm letting go, no looking back  
>cause baby you're the past<br>I'll find somebody that lasts longer  
>There's no more pictures on my wall<br>don't want them anymore  
>replace them with a love that's stronger<em>

_I'm letting go, no looking back  
>cause baby you're the past<br>I'll find somebody that lasts longer  
>There's no more pictures on my wall<br>don't want them anymore  
>Replace them with a love that's stronger"<em>

She grinned as the song came to an end. She bowed as everyone erupted in applause. She walked back over to me and sat down. Mr. Kline then gave us the rest of the period to just talk.

"You were amazing, Clary," exclaimed the girl sitting in front of her. Clary blushed and thanked her quietly.

"She's right, you know?" I said as she turned towards me.

"I'm not that great. Mr. Kline over-exaggerates how good I am," she responded, blushing.

"Well, you're voice sounds like an angel to me," I whispered then smirked as her blush grew.

Clary's POV:

Why am I blushing? Why is my body so hyper-aware of every move that Jace makes? I couldn't help but glance at him during every class. We were paired for everything because he refused to leave my side, probably just to annoy me but a part of me didn't really mind. Jace was sarcastic, cocky and irritating but something about his eyes told me that there was more to him. This ridiculous facade that he puts on was to hide someone completely different. The last class of the day was art, my favorite class. When I walked in, I immediately sat in the front.

"Wow, a front seat? I got the impression that you didn't like being in the front considering in every class we've sat in the back," taunted Jace. I rolled my eyes.

"Art happens to be my favorite class. Music is second in my life. Art is and will always be first," I replied, grinning.

"So you can sing and since art is your favorite class, you can draw. Are there any other talents that you have? Besides being beautiful," he questioned with a smirk. I looked away, pulling my hair forward, and hoping he wouldn't see the blush that spread across my face.

"Oh, Clary!"

I turned to see Aline walking towards me and I frowned.

"Yes, Aline," I replied, stiffly.

"Are you still doing cheerleading this year?" she asked.

"Yes, Aline. Why wouldn't I?"

"I heard about you and Sebastian. If it's too difficult to for you to see him every time we cheer, I can take over as captain," she sneered.

"I'm not going to let a break-up prevent me from being cheer captain," I replied, snidely.

"It should have been mine anyway!" she shouted.

"Then why wasn't it, Aline? Why did Marissa name me captain before she graduated?" I taunted, standing up to face her. I didn't care if she was taller than me. "Why is it that I bother you so much, Aline? Is it because I have everything you wanted? You wanted Sebastian, I got him. You wanted cheer captain, I got it."

"You don't have Sebastian anymore. He's fair game."

"If you want him, you can have him. I'll see you at practice," I responded, grinning as her face turned red from anger.

I sat back down and frowned. Her words flowed in my head as much as I wanted to ignore it, I just couldn't. From the corner of my eye, I saw Aline rub her hands against Jace's back. She leaned forward, practically thrusting her breasts into his face and whispered in his ear. He smirked as she walked away. All of a sudden, Jace's hand was on mine. I looked down to see that I was gripping the pencil tightly.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing," I responded, loosening my grip and removing my hand from his.

"Miss Fray, are you still drawing?" asked Mrs. Gilmore as she walked to the desk Jace and I shared.

"Yes, Mrs. Gilmore," I answered.

"That's great. I was wondering if you would like to prepare some pieces for an art show at Skyline Gallery in Brooklyn?" asked Mrs. Gilmore.

"Really? I would love to. Thank you," I gushed.

"It is really no problem, Clary. You are my most talented student. Nobody deserves this opportunity more than you," she responded before walking away.

I stared after her in shock. Did that really just happen?"

"Congratulations," whispered Jace.

I smiled, the whole thing with Aline forgotten.

"Do you want to draw me?" he asked, smiling.

I stared at him. He was actually beautiful with his tan skin and golden eyes. His lips were shaped a perfect bow and when he smiled you could see a little chip in his front tooth but it doesn't take away from his beauty. In fact, it made him even more beautiful.

"I don't mind if you'd like me to model for you," he whispered, leaning closer to me. I rolled my eyes.

"I'll think about it," I responded, leaning forward.

"I knew it. You are attracted to me," he replied, getting closer.

I blinked as I realized how close we were. All I had to do was move my face a few inches and our lips would touch. I blushed and sat straight. I could see a smirk plastered on his face. I rolled my eyes and started gathering my books. I was eager to get home and start drawing.

"Your house isn't going anywhere," stated Jace, smirking. I glared at him.

"I know but I want to start on pieces for the art show," I responded, getting up.

"My offer still stands. I would be happy to be your model," he grinned.

I shook my head and giggled. "Bye, Jace!" I shouted as I walked by him. We had a small meeting for cheerleading and then I would be free to draw. I walked into the gym and frowned as I saw Aline standing in front of the girls.

"Oh, Clary!" she exclaimed with fake enthusiasm, "I was just telling the girls about my date this weekend, with Sebastian."

She grinned at me, tauntingly. I rolled my eyes and threw my backpack on the floor, ignoring the feeling of my heart breaking, before walking towards her. I heard all the girls take in a sharp breath. I stood in front of her with my hands on my hips. I had to look up because she was about a few inches taller than me.

"That's not important, Aline. Take a seat," I demanded. She growled and stomped off to the bleachers with the other girls. I smirked and turned towards them. Maia sat in the front, grinning wildly. She always loved when I used my captain status against Aline.

"Okay, girls. This year will be great, as usual! I came up with a couple different routines during my break that we will start next Tuesday. As always, our practices will be Tuesdays and Thursdays directly after school. If you're late, you sit out. Just because Marissa is no longer here and has gone off to college, does not mean anything has changed. This Thursday is try-outs. We have five open spots that need to be filled before the first home game which is in three weeks. Get the word out to any new girls. We need talented girls."

I sighed as I gave the beginning speech. It was always the same. "It will be a great year" and "Look out for any potential candidates for the team. Talent, talent, talent! That's what we need." Marissa, our old captain, gave me the run down on how the speeches are supposed to go before she left but I've always been a little shy in front of people besides Simon and Maia. I went through a couple more things and then everyone was free to go. I grabbed my backpack when Aline walked by with her best friend Kaelie.

"Yes, we're going to dinner and a movie. It's going to be the best date that Sebastian ever had," she stated, smirking at me. I watched as she walked away.

"Hey, don't worry about Aline," comforted Maia as she walked up beside me, "Let's go find Simon."

I nodded. I just wanted to get out of here. We walked out of the gym. I gasped as someone grabbed my arm. I turned to see Sebastian standing there. I glared at him. Maia stopped cautiously but then decided otherwise and walked away.

"Can we talk?" he asked.

"For what? So you can tell me about where you're taking Aline this weekend? That's cool. I don't really care."

I started walking away but he grabbed me and pulled me back.

"I wanted to explain..." he started but I raised my hand to stop him.

"Explain what? We aren't together. I may have mistakenly thought that when you said you weren't ready for a relationship that you meant you weren't ready to have a relationship with anyone, but I guess I was wrong. Thanks for clearing that up."

I started walking away when he shouted at me. "What's with you and the new kid?"

My head whipped around. "What are you talking about?"

"I've seen you with that new kid all day, that blonde asshole who all the girls have been talking about," he answered.

"Jace? Nothing, Seb. We have all the same classes," I answered, confused on why he was asking me this.  
>"Does that mean he has to be with you all the time?" he asked.<p>

I stared at him. Was he...jealous? No. Sebastian never gets jealous.

"No, he doesn't have to be but he asked me to show him around. Why do you care?" I asked.

"I don't," he responded, quickly. I sighed.

"There's no reason for you to be jealous, Seb. I just met Jace."

"I'm not jealous. When have I ever been jealous?" he asked, oddly. I could tell he was lying.

"I have to go. Maia and Simon are waiting for me."

I walked away. I could feel Sebastian's eyes on my back as I've always been aware of his stares. It was hard to miss. His eyes were black, almost as if he was a demon. It scared me at first but after awhile, it was really...attractive. I walked to Simon's car and quickly got in.

"Are you okay?" asked Maia.

"Do I have to hit someone?" asked Simon at the same time.

I laughed as an image of Simon, my nerd best friend, trying to threaten Sebastian, my athletic ex-boyfriend.

"No, it's fine. Just take me home."

Simon nodded and started the car. I tried to listen to Maia and Simon's conversation but my mind kept drifting off. Normally, it would be Sebastian on my mind. His black eyes, black hair, his bright smile filled with his perfect teeth and broad shoulders. Instead his black eyes were replaced with golden, amber-like eyes. His black hair slowly became blond. His teeth somehow had a small chip in the front tooth, but it was still perfect. I was suddenly thinking about Jace. Why was I thinking about him? I barely knew him. All I really knew about him was that he was sarcastic, arrogant, and beautiful. WAIT! Beautiful? I shook my head. I can't think about Jace. I can't put myself through that. He was like Sebastian, even if he didn't seem like it but Sebastian had acted a different way in the beginning too. This was going to be a LONG year.

**Please do not hate me for being so late on an update. My life has just got a tad more hectic as a result I have decided to have icyfirelove3 take over the story for me (if you have not read any of her stories, you should check them out because they are A M A Z I N G) because honestly, as the weeks go by I'm starting to realize I just do not have enough time to continuously update and I'd hate to see this story be discontinued after itgot so many reviews and favorites.**

**So my plan is to finish You should have stayed and then take a break from writing for awhile.**

**I want to thank everyone who reviewed, followed, and favorited because of you guys, I wanted to make sure a great writer took over for me and icyfirelove3 is an amazing writer so please once she re-posts this story, go check it out. I'm my version up until she re-posts it. Thanks again so much guys**

**:)**

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><p><em><strong>Okay, so as stated as before, this isn't my chapter that I wrote – I only betaed this for the person I beta for, and after this chapter (chapter 4) I have written this and continued the story line and blah blah blah. <strong>_

_**Send some love to CoolestxNerd for writing these three amazing chapters! **_

_**~Icyfirelove3**_

_**p.s. any reviews you leave, I'll send it to her to show your guy's thanks. Or you guy can just pm her directly. **_


	4. Chapter 4: Who Messed Up Your Morning?

**Disclaimer: Sadly, if it were up to me, I wouldn't have to write this but I have to. I don't own the mortal instruments. And, the first three chapter of this fic. **

Thanks to all those who reviewed, the person who gave me this story to take over, CoolestxNerd, I'm sure, is very thankful for all the nice and sweet comments.

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><p><strong>Chapter 4: Who Messed Up Your Morning? <strong>

At home, all I could think about was Jace. His beautiful golden tan, with matching hair and eyes. And not to mention that Sebastian was jealous, not that I cared all that much.

That served him right, flirting with Aline after saying he wasn't ready for a relationship. But I had bigger things to worry about – I couldn't be crushing on the new kid. Yet, I was sitting down on my bed – where I had spent two days crying over that jerk – trying to do homework and I was already thinking about another guy.

And have been ever since I came home. I was so tempted to even tell him the next day to say yes for his offer to be my model, even if he was half kidding. And being cocky about it. Yet, I wanted so badly to say yes.

It would be an excuse to talk to him, to hang out with him even more. And not to mention how much I would have to stare at him – with a valid reason too.

_How could anyone say no to that?_ I thought as I heard my name being called. "Yeah?" I answered, opening the door and walked into the kitchen.

"I didn't get to ask you how your first day was. Speaking of which, how was it?" she asked as she started preparing to make dinner.

"It was good," I answered vaguely, hoping she wouldn't push it as I started making the salad, concentrating solely on getting it out of the fridge, washing it and cutting it up.

"That's all you're going to tell me?" she asked as I was cutting the last bit of the iceberg lettuce, my favorite type. Even though I wasn't looking at her, I could feel her gaze on me.

I looked up and sighed. "What more is there to say?"

"Well, for one, you could tell me if you have any classes with _him_," she said. And for a second, I was confused. I didn't tell her about Jace, so how would she know?

Then I realized who she was talking about, wincing as I dropped my gaze on her. "A couple," I answered in a tone that closed all further discussions on it.

"Oh, honey, I'm sorry. I just…" she fluttered her hands in circles, unsure how to explain it.

"Worried?" I supplied. "Yeah, well, it's all under control."

"Is he giving you a hard time?" I pursed my lips, hating how she wouldn't mention his actual name, as if I might burst into tears any second.

"You mean _Sebastian_? Not really." I didn't mention how he knocked Jace's food down. Or how he kept trying to talk to me. _She wouldn't understand,_ I thought, shaking my head. For her, Luke was always there, even if she denied that something was going on between them. And he never gave up on her, always standing on the sidelines patiently until he realized.

She had her prince charming, even if she didn't realize it. I didn't. "Oh, well, then that's good. Anything new or exciting that I should know?"

For a second I thought that I would mention Jace – just how he was the new kid – but decided against it. Maybe when we became closer friends I would. "Well, I had to sign during music, and Mrs. Gilmore is letting me prepare some pieces for the art show at Skyline Gallery in Brooklyn."

"Oh, that's wonderful Clare! You'll do great and if you ever get stuck, you can always ask me, you know." I smiled, happy that the awkward tense mood that we were having a moment before was gone, replaced by the good mood.

"Thanks mom, I will."

The empty, _clean_, blank white paper stared mockingly at me. I pushed my curls back roughly, taking out some of my frustration on it.

It was already night, and I still haven't drawn anything and had no ideas. Nada. Zip. Maybe I should have token Jace up on that offer. I had a great idea if he modeled for me and since I was stuck, that was probably going to be my only option.

I racked around my brain for an idea but none came. Maybe I could do a piece on Jace – after all, he _did_ offer – and since he was golden, the contrasting color to yellow – which was close as to gold as I could get – would be purple.

_Purple…purple…_I thought, hoping that if I kept saying the color in my head that a sudden, brilliant idea would pop into my head. After a while, staying at the too cheery white, I decided to drawing a bridge, the background being different shades of purple.

I looked at it, satisfied and began to paint it in watercolor paints and pencils (which I found insanely cool and begged Jocelyn to get me) until I was done. I glanced at the time, surprised to see that it was 11:30 at night. I groaned before quickly changing and brushing my teeth, knowing I was going to be cranky in the morning if I didn't go to bed soon.

The next morning I woke up cranky, just as I thought I would. I quickly brushed my teeth and took out a red top that was see-through and wore a white thank top underneath with blue shorts. Decided that my curls didn't look too wild, I kept it loose and rushed into the kitchen to see coffee out along with the sticky buns that Luke always got me when he came over.

I looked around and sure enough, there he was. "Hey kiddo, how're you doing?"

"Good, thanks for the sticky buns. How's the bookshop?" I asked as I took a long swing of the black coffee that I had to have before stuffing a piece of a sticky bun in my mouth.

"If you eat any faster, you're going to choke. It's doing good. So how's school? Meet any new guys?" He wiggled his eyebrows up and down in a way that made me knew that he knew about Sebastian. I internally groaned.

Well, wasn't that great?

Remembering to kill Jocelyn later, I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Not really. Now, sorry, Luke by I have to go to school. Si is going to be here any minute."

True to my word, my phone buzzed and I opened the text from Simon. _I'm here. _"I have to go now. Bye!" I said, taking my coffee and rushing out the door.

I didn't want to be rude – believe me, I loved Luke like a father – but I didn't want to talk to him about that. Not now, and probably not ever.

I opened the door, and sat down in the seat with relief. "Who messed up your morning?" he asked as he went down the familiar streets to go to Mia's house.

I sighed, explaining about my traitor of a mom and Luke knowing. "Tough."

"Tell me about it," I muttered under my breath as Maia sat in the car.

"Who messed up her morning?" Maia asked, referring to me.

I scowled but it quickly transformed into a smile. "I'm fine," I assured her as Simon started driving to school.

"If you say so girl," she said, meeting Simon's eyes in the mirror.

"I am saying so," I huffily retorted. Maia rolled her eyes and Simon took my hands and squeezed it before letting go.

"How's Jordan?" I asked, since I haven't seen him at all yet.

Maia stiffened slightly and responded curtly. "Fine."

I sighed, knowing that Jordan is still dealing with his issues that I knew next to nothing about. When Maia finally decides to let me in, maybe I could help her. Until then, I could do nothing.

Luckily, we didn't have the bare the tense silence when Simon pulled up in front of the school. I threw my coffee that I finished in the car into the trash and saw a familiar tousled hair.

"Jace!" I called out, waving my hand out. He turned around, his facing breaking out into a smile when he saw me.

"Thank god you're here. Izzy wouldn't leave me alone or shut up," he grinned, running a hand through his hair again.

"God's right here," Simon said, coming up behind me. I rolled my eyes at him while Jace looked at him quizzically.

"Simon dropped me off here," I explained, shooting a Simon a look who just shrugged.

"Every morning, I might add. And ever afternoon."

I elbowed him in the ribs. "Don't act like you don't like it. And what about Maia?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at him.

He said nothing before rolling his eyes and joining her. "Well that was fun," Jace muttered.

"Excuse me?" I asked, not quite catching the words.

"Nothing," he said quickly. I didn't believe him, of course, but I let it slide. I had to be nice to him if I wanted him to model for me.

"Hey, Jace, I want to ask you something. You know how you –" the shrill shriek of the bell cut me off and we walked to class, my question forgotten by him as he talked about trying out for football, the same thing that Sebastian was doing.

_Uh oh, _I thought, _that isn't going to be good. _But that's _if _he makes the team. But looking at the muscles that spiraled up his arms, I doubted that he wouldn't make the team.

"Is there a reason why you're staring at me like that?" Jace whisper asked me as class started.

"Is there a reason why you aren't staring at me?" I retaliated, unable to help the curve of my lips. That's what I said to him – and what he said to me. I also blushed, getting caught staring at him like that.

All throughout the day, we kept talking, finding some things in common or fighting over some useless that was resulted me bursting into fits of laughter. And apparently my laugh is funny which is why Jace would laugh too. Either way, all we did was talk, talk, and you guessed it, talk.

I had to admit, he wasn't as bad as I thought he was. He was actually pretty smart and nice when he wasn't being cocky – but only in a funny way. Well, most of the time anyway.

By the time lunch rolled around, we were still laughing and talking. On the line, I felt a tap on my shoulder, and I turned around, the smile still on my face dropping when I realized who the dark eyes belonged to.

"Can we pleas–"

"Save it, Sebastian. Have fun on your date with Aline, by the way," I said as I walked back with Jace to my table. My happy mood was gone, and Jace was saying something along the lines that he wasn't worth it. I just nodded my head as I ate my lunch, but not really tasting it.

"Who messed up your morning?" Izzy asked bluntly, even though we weren't that close friends yet.

I looked at Simon and Maia before going into a fit of laughter. Just like that, the bad mood vanished, as everyone else, including Izzy was looking confused.

"What's so funny?" asked Izzy, looking unhappy that she wasn't in on the joke and was frowning.

"Oh, you know, the usual. They're just laughing about how crazy they are," Jace said casually, unable to hide a smile, showing that his right incisor was chipped.

Izzy frowned even more, looking between me, Jace, Simon and Maia. "It's their inside joke, and they only let cool, hot people in it after they made it," Jace smirked at Izzy who was looking at them incredulously.

I would have smacked Jace, but I was laughing too hard to do anything about it. "Simon," Izzy crooned, at him since he was the closest one of us sitting next to her, trailing her finger up and down his arm, "are they laughing at me." She looked up at him with those big black eyes and I laughed even harder.

If that was me, I would have fell for it as well – just as Simon probably was right now – but looking from outside, it was really funny. And Simon was sputtering his words out.

"N-no, of course not!" His laughing has ceased and he sobered up.

"Then what were you laughing at?" she asked, her voice soft as she placed her hand on his upper arm before trailing down it, slowly.

"I – we, Maia, in the car, Clary, this morning," Simon said, unable to form a coherent sentence. I smiled and Izzy took her hand of his shoulder, and sighed.

"Someone please tell me?"

Simon, who finally got a grip on himself, answered, redeeming himself. "I asked Clary that same thing this morning, and then so did Maia after I picked her up and then right now, you just did."

"And how does Jace know about it and not me?" she asked, frowning again. It looked wrong on her face, disrupting her good looks, yet still managing to look good. I seriously had to ask how she did that.

Everyone looked at me, and before I could respond, Jace butted in. "Clary told me." They all stared at me some more while Jace was silently laughing, his shoulders shaking.

Ugh, I hate that kid so much! "I did not," I replied huffily. "Jace just made all that up to annoy you."

"She's trying to frame me," Jace said, pointing to me.

"No, _she's _trying to frame me!" I responded, smiling at his confused face.

"He, not she. I'm a _he_," he responded, shaking his head.

"Really? I didn't notice," I responded, smirking.

"How could anyone _not _notice this?" he asked, gesturing himself with his hand.

"Oh really?" I asked, before imitating him. "'Are we going to be best friends forever?' You could have had me fooled."

Izzy and Alec looked at Jace incredulously right before a tall guy eyes entered the room. We all turned around and stated at him.

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><p>Ooo, who is this tall dude? The world may never know ;)<p>

Anyways, this is mine (I finally got to post this up, yay!) but give thanks to CoolestxNerd for coming up for the three chapters and the ideas for them. So go and show her your love! And don't forget about me ;)

And…hoped you liked it. Since this is considered my story now, I'm doing secret word! *cheers* thank you, I know how awesome it is. For those who don't know about it and haven't read anything from me before, well, I write a secret word in a A/N to see who actually reads them. Then, if you say the secret word in the review, you get a teaser for the next chappie! BUT you have to be signed in or tell me your email or something go I can give it to you. If you are like anonymous, then I can't give it to you.

Okay, that's all.

Oh, and review?

~Icyfirelove3

P.S. Check out the stories I beta for! All of Bookninja15's stories (too many to list out but a lot of MI ones), Skyecelade99's Parallel Hearts, CoolxNerd's You Should Have Stayed (who is the same person that had this as their story at first. read it – she's almost done with it!)and MollyGM's City of Bones Jace POV!


	5. Chapter 5: Mr Sparkles

**Disclaimer: Does anyone even read these things anyways? If anyone can say cookie in their review, I'll give you a bonus teaser. Oh yeah, almost forgot (conveniently) to add that I do not own the Mortal Instruments. Nor the first three chapters of this. **

Thanks for all the reviews, they really make my day and I feel 100x better getting the compliments since I wrote it. It kinda sucked reading nice compliments on something I didn't write aha. Btw, I'm sure that CoolestxNerd appreciates all the love!

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><p><strong>Chapter 5: Mr. Sparkles<strong>

The first word that popped into my mind to describe him was sparkly. Not even kidding, the dude was _covered_ with sparkles, head to toe. His black hair was spiked up and had shiny glitter. His almond-shaped eyes were dark and rimmed with more, you guessed it, sparkles.

His pants were a tight pink – I think it was leather – and a black tee that had words splashed across the front, and some of them was pink. His shoes were a dark blue that was also very sparkly.

All in all, he was a very sparkly dude.

A tall, Asian sparkly dude who I was sure – no offense to him – was 100% gay. Everyone, along with me, stared at him before turning around. Some new kid on the second day of school. Tough.

But when I heard someone calling Alec, and since everyone was already sitting at our table, I knew it was Mr. Sparkles. Yeah, I dubbed him that. I just hope he doesn't find out…

Mr. Sparkles sat down next to a very flushed but happy Alec who chattered away. That has to be the most I've ever seen him talk at once and it's only been what, a minute? Jace, Iz, Maia, Simon and I all shared a look, wondering how Alec knew this…this, well, sparkly dude.

Which is why Mr. Sparkles suited him perfectly.

We all made small talk, still all secretly wondering who the hell he was. I even had the feeling that Alec was gay, despite that fact that all the girls flocked to him with his nice black hair and blue eyes. It was a great combo, I admit – really cute when the colored eyes (especially blue) offset dark hair but I liked Jace's gold thing going on more.

I was surprised that none of the girls were, you know, asking him out or anything. With his looks, no doubt, he probably had a new girl every week. Maybe even less.

I wondered what was holding him back.

"Aren't you going to introduce me?" I heard someone ask. I looked over to Mr. Sparkles, who was talking and the first thing I noticed – other than the sparkles and glitter…hmm, maybe I should call him Mr. Glitter instead? – was his green eyes.

They were like, green green. None of that blueish green or brownish green, or even the reddish green but a green. Like completely green. And his eyes were silted, reminded me of a cat.

But somehow, it looked right on him, suited him. Though it probably was those colored contacts that people got.

"Oh, yeah," Alec said, flushing a beet red. "Guys, this is Magnus. Magnus, these are the other people."

I hid my smile at him saying 'other people'. Mr. Sparkles – or Magnus – tsked. "Are you trying to tell me that all their names are other people? I'm smarter than I look, you know," he said, his lips curving into a smile that he looked like he was trying to suppress.

His cheeks had roses blooming on them again. "This is Jace, my brother, Izzy, my sister, Maia, Simon and Clary."

He frowned. "How is he your brother? He's all golden looking. Nice tan by the way, but seriously? You guys look nothing alike."

"He's my adopted brother," Alec said indifferently but there was this something in his eyes. Oh, was he jealous that he was paying attention to Jace? _Aha, _I snorted in my mind. Jace was as straight as you could get.

Actually, now that I thought about it, I'm having doubts. I mean, he did that girly voice and impression pretty well….

Magnus nodded his head.

And I almost laughed my head off. It was almost like he was agreeing to what I thought. But of course, that was silly. And Jace was straight…I hope. Oh god, questioning if I guy is straight is always a bad sign. One, that meant that I was worried, and not as a friend. And two, that just wasn't plain good. Could he be the unthinkable?

No, a pretty boy like him that is a cocky douche is definition not gay.

The bell rang and Jace and I went to our lockers before going to music together. I honestly didn't care that much that Sebastian was in that class anymore. I had Jace, and I was going to be just fine. I don't know what I saw in that douche in the first place.

When I entered the room, my eyes, much to my disappointment, went right to where he was sitting, surrounded by either jocks or giggling girls. His dark demon eyes stared at me and I glared at him before looking away.

I wasn't going to show him just how much he hurt me.

That will piss him off. And boy did I want to piss him off. Today, I didn't have to sing, which I was grateful for. I really wasn't in the mood to do it today. But we are suppose to be practicing songs on the electric keyboards, working in pairs.

Immediately, Jace and I partnered up and took a keyboard as far away from Seb as we could. His black eyes followed us like hawks, anger flashing through his eyes. I resisted the childish urge to stick my tongue out and instead turned my back to him.

"You wanna go first?" Jace offered. I nodded, wanting to practice since I wasn't the best at piano. I played Jingle Bells as a warm up – it was a rather fun song to play and it was easy.

Then, I flipped the pages to turn to one of the more challenging pieces. I picked a particular challenging one for me – Beethoven, Piano Sonata No.23 – and I started playing it.

When the more difficult part came, I messed up, my fingers clumsy and messing up all the notes. I sighed, and took my fingers off the keys, running a hand through my hair. In attempt to show off to Jace – hey, you gotta do what you gotta do – and even a little bit to Sebastian, I messed up and looked like an idiot.

"That was good," Jace said comforting me after looking at my face for a second.

"No it wasn't. That was horrible; you heard the noise I made. Nothing pretty about that."

"The beginning was good, you just need more practice. Besides, we can't have you good at everything now, can we?" I rolled my eyes, my spirits already lifted. Jace smiled at me and I was about to smile back when I realized that I was already smiling.

I couldn't believe how quickly Jace made me feel better. "My turn," Jace said, giving me a look, looking slightly smug. "You'll love this."

He played the same song as me, the Sonata, it sounded completely different. Different in a good way. Now I understood the smug look on his face – if I could play as well as he was now, I would be too. It was amazing and sounded about a hundred times better than me.

I was entranced by the notes filling the air, weaving together to make a beautiful sound. It was impossible to see how quickly his fingers moved – it was just a blur of golden skin racing on top of white and black. The sound was as beautiful as he was beautiful, which was saying a lot.

When he played the last note, he held on the key, making it linger in the air before finally dying. "How could you say I was good?" I blanched at him. Clearly, he was just saying that to make me feel better about myself if he could play like _that_.

Jace gave a one sided shrug, a lazy gesture like he didn't play the most beautiful piece in the world. I bet he played it better than Beethoven himself. "How did you learn to play like that?" I asked, awe evident in my voice.

"I do it for the ladies," Jace said, giving me a flirty smile and throwing me a wink. I giggled, unable to help myself. Some detached part of my brain wondered why he didn't answer the question but the rest of me really couldn't care.

"Then you do it well," I responded, grinning.

"I can do something better," he answered, searching for something in my eyes. His golden ones bored into mine and I forgot how to breathe. He leaned forward so I could see some of the light brown flecks in his eyes. "Want me to show you?"

I looked at him, and realized that his face was only mere inches away from mine. My heart thumped faster as I gazed into his face. Just a half a step closer….

_Riiinnngggg_. We both jumped apart at the sound of the bell and I grabbed my stuff and shoved them into my bag before walking quickly. But damn him, I forgot that he had the same schedule as me.

Hopefully by now the ruby red that was probably splashed across my cheeks were gone. Jace came up next to me, close but not nearly as close as we were before. "Where are you going so fast?" he asked, not bothering to mention what happened only moments before.

I was relieved but there was also anger. Did he think he could _play_ me? I wasn't anyone's play toy. Especially Jace's. He brushed it off like it was nothing, while…it was more than nothing to me. It meant _some_thing to me.

"Art," I replied tartly. We had the same classes, for crying out loud.

"Well, isn't someone jolly today?" he answered, his arm brushing against mine. I took a tiny step away from him, hoping he wouldn't notice – or maybe it would be better if he _did_ – and looked up at him.

"Apparently someone's really stupid today as well," I retailed. "Mr. Smarty Pants forgot that we all had the same classes. Did it also forget that I liked Art?"

I walked fast, hoping to gain some space between us but his long legs were no match for my shorter ones. He caught up easily. Grabbed my elbow, he made me turn and look at him. "How could I forget that I had a class with a pretty girl?"

His words made my stomach flip flop but, despite my heart telling me not to do so, I yanked my elbow away from him. "You think saying that would make any difference to me?" I asked, shaking my head.

Cutting him off, I spoke quickly. "It may work on other girls, Jace, but I'm not other girls." With that, I walked away without looking back.

And not listening to my stupid heart protesting.

I took my spot at the front, scowling as I brought all my belongings to the easel. Damn it, I forgot to be nicer to him. It was going well until that stupid moment that could be or couldn't be a moment. And I was going to ask him to model for me…damn it.

"Ms. Fray," Mrs. Gilmore said, coming up behind me, "did you start preparing your pieces?"

I wanted to sigh – I was just trying _not _to think about that little problem right now. "Yes, Mrs. Gilmore."

"Good," she smiled, "I'm sure you'll do great."

_Yeah, right_, I thought bitterly. It was all Jace's fault. I couldn't stop think of anything to paint _but _him yet I couldn't paint him. What a nice situation.

"Where's you new little boyfriend?" Aline sneered, smiling smugly.

"He's not my boyfriend," I responded, clenching my fist.

"Of course he isn't – he's too good for you. No one would want to be with a little art slut like you," she snickered, her almond eyes glowing at the chance to taunt me.

"You're one to talk," I responded, taking a step closer to her. "Cause then you just are the seconds of the art slut. And seconds is always worse than being the first." I smiled smugly at her angered face, as she stalked off.

"Impressive," someone commented and I whirled around.

Jace.

My stomach did back flips and I tried to frown at him. "I don't need your approval," I told him as I started to get to work.

"I know you don't. I'm just complimenting you. Man, that girl has some serious issues," he said, giving her a sideways looks as she winked at him. He abruptly turned his back on her slutty little face.

"You're telling me," I said, smiling despite myself. I caught myself and looked at him. "So do you always not apologize or what?"

"Hmm, I don't know what you are talking about," he said while winking at me.

I felt heat rushing up to my face in spite of knowing that this was just one of his many little tricks. "Well, I'm not going to let you off unless you apologize to me," I informed him as I worked, not looking at him.

"Hmm, you're harder to please then most. Fine, I'm sorry," he said, gazing at me. I still didn't look at him, knowing that if I did I would let him off just like that. And I needed my plan to work.

"Say it like you mean it," I said, my lips twitching into a smile.

"Sorry, Princess," Jace said, mock bowing at me.

"Not good enough," I enlightened him, smiling full on.

"Fine then, princess. What can I do for you?" I bit my lip and buried the need to look at his perfect, golden angelic face.

"Model for me," I said, but it sounded more like a question. Damn it, I was suppose to sound sure, sound confident. Not put this up for debate

"Ah," he said, and I could hear the smile in his face without even looking at him. "So this is what it's about."

I looked at him, seeing him lace his fingers behind his head before getting a stern look from Mrs. Gilmore, making him continue with his art piece.

"Deal or no deal?" I offered, smirking. Of course he would do it – he was offering yesterday. When he didn't say anything, I continued. "Just yesterday you were more than willing. What, a change of heart when you actually have to do something?"

I knew putting it like that would make it a guarantee that he would do it for me. Jace was one of those boys who probably couldn't back down from a dare. I bet he even ate dirt or a leaf before. Something gross like that.

I knew his type.

"Deal," he said, pointing a pencil at my face, "but just so you know, I'm only doing it to please you."

"Mhmm," I responded solely for the fact that he would get ticked off from it.

"Don't make me reconsider," Jace threatened.

"You won't do that," I said, smiling to myself. Oh crap. I just gave him another challenge. I looked at him, his face blank and empty. He was probably conflicted inside, all confused like how boys are in general.

Confusing as hell.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Jace said, smiling. _Crap_, I thought whiling chewing my bottom lip.

Sorry guys that this took _so _long. I would hate myself too. Really..I just…well, I've been getting some of these horrible headaches. It started since I woke up until I go to sleep every day since last week Wednesday. Yeah, painful. So I couldn't concerate on anything. I still have them. So, please pardon me if this sucks ass. And why it took so long. It's just so hard to something with a constant headache and not being able to concentrate. I would just type a few words and feel like passing out. I fell asleep on my kitchen counter one day watching TV. Yep, that's how bad it is. So _please _forgive me. It took like a week or two (yikes) longer than normal, my deepest apologizes.

Oh, right, so secret word is painful. And goal: 39

**Sorry about the last chapter and not putting the secret word. I forgot aha XP**

Thoughts? Tell me in a review!

~Icyfirelove3

P.S. Check out the stories I beta for! All of Bookninja15's stories (too many to list out but a lot of MI ones), Skyecelade99's Parallel Hearts, CoolxNerd's You Should Have Stayed (who is the same person who gave me this story, she just finished it!)and MollyGM's City of Bones Jace POV!


	6. Something you should know

Hey y'all! Aha, yup, I'm at the heart of Texas right now!

Hence no update. I forgot to post this when I was at home cause I go so freakin busy, I've got less than six hours of sleep every single night.

So, no update, sorry. But I will work on it asap because this is the rare time that I actually have connection and time. I barely have enough time to even post it.

Please don't kill me. I know I've been a horrible updater but…I'll try to get it at least two times a month.

Sorry guys.

And since I just can't post an A/N…Jace says 'kinky' in the next chapter...*smiles widely*

I love you all for not killing me XD

~Icyfirelove3

PS THIS GOES FOR SUPERHUMANS TO, MY OTHER STORY


	7. Chapter 6: I Joke

*****TO CHARLOTTE (IF YOU ARE NOT HER – I AM ASSUMING THAT YOU ARE A GIRL LOL XD THEN YOU DON'T HAVE TO READ) I am so sorry to say that I cannot give you a teaser unless you are signed in, because, I have no other way to give it to you other than in a PM. Sorry.*****

**Disclaimer: I'm surprised that a lot of you actually read these things, I have to start coming up with my witty ones again...So, just for you guys, I'll tell you that I don't own MI, Cassie Clare does, and I don't own the three chapters at all. So, if you loved them, go send some love to CoolestxNerd. Now. Well, after you read and review this, of course XP**

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, added my story on story alert and/or fav. author. You guys can't even begin to understand how much it really does mean to me.

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><p><strong>Chapter 6: I Joke<strong>

**Clary's Point of View**

Well, wasn't I smart?

My pretty smart plan could just be foiled right now. So much for getting him to model. "I'll just tell Izzy to force you to make you model for me," I threatened him, seeing no other option then that.

"Yeah," he snorted, giving me a look asking how did I think that Izzy was going to make Jace model for me. "Izzy can't make me do anything."

"Fine, well, we _both _can. I will tie you down and –"

"Kinky," Jace interrupted, smirking.

"Oh, would you get over yourself? Anyways, I will tie you down and Izzy and I will forcefully feed you her cooking. How does that sound?" I asked him, rushing the part about tying him down again. I hoped the red that crept up my face was gone now.

Of course Jace would say something like that. _Boys_. What can you do?

"You wouldn't," he said, in fake horror. Or maybe some of it was real. Maybe her cooking really was that bad – I never had tried it, of course. And I wasn't planning on to any time soon.

"Oh, I would," I smirked at him, before continuing my pastel art of eyes. It was all black and white, and the variations of the colors were tripping me up. We all had to do some type of pastel work, and eyes were something that I've always really like drawing, even if I wasn't all that good at it.

"In that case," Jace said, making my eyes tear away from the paper, my hand still frozen in the air where I was about to make my next stroke of a shade of gray. "I guess I have to do it. No choice."

I tried biting back my smile, but it broke through anyway. "Didn't know that her cooking was that horrible," I stated while doing the space right underneath the person's eyes.

"It's inedible," Jace put bluntly.

"Well, that's something I'm not going to try out then," I said, almost to myself as I got lost in the artwork.

Pastel was really doing wonders for me. Shading was hard to do without the proper tools and using your finger got your fingers all black and you couldn't control it as much as you could with the took.

The pastels, however, were really easy to use on the manila paper. Mrs. Gilmore appeared by my side, nodding her head approvingly at my artwork. "Wonderful as always Clary," she said, studying it a bit more.

"Don't forget to make these spots darker, see how it's darker on the girl's face?" Mrs. Gilmore pointed out, tracing the line that cut across the cheekbone. "It will really make this look three dimensional."

"Okay," I said as she walked away, helping someone else. I made the spots that she pointed out darker, seeing that it really was starting to make it look 3D.

I finally started on that blacks and the eyes and he white when Mrs. Gilmore came around again. "Excellent job, Clary. Don't forgot, the last thing you do is the eyelashes," she said before silently going away again.

I felt a prickly burning sensation, almost like a horrible mosquito bite that I couldn't stop scratching. But this was from someone looking at me. "That's what's called excellent these days? Man, they let anything be considered good," a voice sneered behind me.

I knew without turning around that it was Aline. "What do you want?" I asked, putting my pastel down carefully and turning around to look at her squarely in her eyes.

"Nothing. Just everything that is rightfully mine. Like Sebastian, for example. He was yours, but now he belongs to who he _really _belongs to," she answered snobbishly.

"Really? Because, he was mine first. You just got my sloppy seconds, as usual. You can have him, by the way. I don't really care about him. So have fun bragging about something I really couldn't care less about. Kind of like you," I said, smiling sweetly at her, but my gaze on her was enough to burn a hole through her.

Wouldn't that be nice, if she just burst into flames right now?

She was just about to retort something to me, her face already twisted up into an angry evil face when Mrs. Gilmore asked Aline, "What are you doing?"

"Just going to the bathroom," she replied innocently, her face smoothing out.

"Well, I don't see it necessary to stop and talk to people on your way," Mrs. Gilmore said. Aline turned around and scowled, before stomping off.

I smiled. Mrs. Gilmore knew what a big pain in the ass Aline was. She deserved that and more. I took out the white pastel again; ready to make the white of the eyes when Jace started talking.

"It's good, just so you know."

I turned around, and smiled at him. "Thanks."

"Are you going to do me as good as that?" he asked, gesturing towards my pastel drawing of eyes.

"No, I'm going to make you look like a lion," I retorted, hoping that he didn't meant the innuendo, before turning back to my work. _A hot lion_, I added, thinking how his golden hair would make an awesome color for the fur.

"Yeah, but I'll make a sexy lion," I heard him say. I bit back a smile and rolled my eyes, wondering how someone so cocky could possibly have a normal sized head.

"Okay, that's it. You're going to be a goldfish," I told him, as I starting rubbing in the eye color that was a dark brown.

"Why a goldfish?" Jace mused, making my hand slip. Muttering under my breath, I used a lighter pastel to make it back to normal.

"Because," I said, as I concentrated on the pupil, coloring it a dark black, "a goldfish cannot be in any possible way be sexy."

"I'm hurt," he mocked, and I could just picture him pulling a Jace – putting his hands over his heart. I didn't say anything, just started on the other eye, hoping to make them the same color. I always had a problem with that – it always ended up too dark or too light.

"Wait, so you think I'm sexy?" Jace asked, and I could feel his eyes burning holes in my back.

"No," I answered without looking back at him, mainly to keep him from seeing my red-hot cheeks, "you just keep _trying _to make yourself end up sexy."

"You're getting better," he said approvingly.

"At?" I promoted.

"Comebacks. You're not getting flustered like most girls," he answered. I finally turned back to look at him.

"Was that a compliment I just heard from _Jace_?"I turned back around to smile sweetly at him when the seven minute warning bell to start cleaning up rang. I dramatically looked away from him and gathered my things, dropping the pastels in the right different colored bins.

"Don't get used to it," a voice came next to me ear. Jace was standing only a few millimeters away, so close that I could see the light amber flecks in his eyes.

He moved away from me as silently and quickly as a ghost, disappearing in the crowd near the sinks. I wiggled my own black and gray stained fingertips, one of an artist. I carefully put away my pastel art, pleased with the way it was turning out.

Of course, the finishing touches would make it better but for now it would have to do. "Should I drop by afterschool?"

I looked up, wondering how the heck Jace could move so silently that I didn't know that he was standing next to me until he spoke.

"Sure," I said, shrugging while washing my hands with soap.

"Or, Alec and Izzy could drop both of us off at your house," he offered, wiping his hands on his jeans.

"Or," I said, looking at him from the side of my eye, "you could come with me."

"With your best friend Rat-Face?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. I smacked him with my still wet hands, getting a small handprint on his gray shirt.

"He is not a Rat-Face! Yesh, you're so mean."

"Kidding," he said, holding up his hands not unlike showing a cop that you weren't armed. I glared at him out of the side of my eye, briefly considering splashing some water at him before wiping my hands.

When the bell rang, I just walked right out the door, not bothering to wait for Jace. When I was halfway to my locker, someone grabbed my elbow. I sighed and turned as the sea of students parted around us like we were stones in a stream, not surprised to be greet Jace's face. "Running away from something?" he questioned.

"You," I replied, walking quickly again. Jace's long legs were no match for mine, however, and he easily kept pace.

"C'mon, I'm sorry. I was joking. If it makes you happy, I will get in the car with Rat-Face with you."

"Only if you stop calling him that," I said, trying not to smile. Jace sighed but nodded his head. "Good then. Hurry up now, I don't want to make Si wait."

I left Jace who was taking his time packing his bag, and went by Simon's locker. "You're early today," he noted while shutting his locker.

"Jace is coming with us," I blurted out.

Simon blinked, before his eyes refocused on me. "Why?" he asked. Seeing my face, he added, "Not that I have anything against him or anything, but doesn't he have his siblings to drive him back home? Unless they of course left him behind…I wouldn't be surprised by that." He muttered the last part, almost to himself.

"Simon, don't be mean," I chastised.

"Yeah, what she said," Jace said from behind me. "Oh, and I'm modeling for her, FYI."

"I was kidding," he murmured, before hitching his backpack up his back and pushing his glasses up his nose. "Let's go now."

The car ride was silent, and uncomfortable to put it plainly. "Bye Clare," Simon said when I made a move to get out of the car. "And Jace," he tacked on the end.

"Bye Si!" I said before slamming the car door shut.

"Well, that wasn't awkward in the least," Jace remarked drily.

"It's your fault," I retorted, taking the stairs two at a time and shoving my key into the door.

"Want me to leave?" Jace threatened.

"What do you think Sherlock?" I asked, walking to the kitchen.

"I don't know General Sarcastic." I barked a laugh at that.

"Me?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at him. "Coming from the master of sarcasm."

"Yeah, well, I'm a dude," he responded, taking a candy red apple and taking a bit out of it. I couldn't help but to notice that even the way he ate was sexy. _There is something deeply wrong with me_, I thought, dragging my eyes away from him.

"And that has to do with what exactly?" I asked, taking a banana for myself and walking to my room, with Jace on my tail.

"Dunno." Jace shrugged, before walking into to my room. "_This _is your room?" I could hear the humor underlying his voice.

"A problem, Jace?"

"It's just so…orange," he said, not bothering to smother his laughs.

"Don't make me smack you," I threatened, my eyes narrowing at him.

"Kidding," he said, giving me a sly smiling, showing that he really wasn't joking.

"You're so mean," I stated, unpeeling my banana, perfectly like in the cartoons with three even peels. Success.

"I prefer to call it honest." He smiled widely at me, letting me see his chipped right incisor. I snickered, before finishing off the banana and throwing it in my trashcan.

"More like brutally honesty," I noted dryly, shifting through my art supplies to get the paper Ms. Gilmore gave me to make my piece on.

Jace just gave me that smile of his, that oh so sexy one, but it wasn't going to work on me. My anger was not going to evaporate like water. Even if it does work on every single other girl. While setting up my easel, I could feel his eyes following every move of my, like a hawk.

"Done eating Jace?" I asked sweetly, taking out my paints and pencils.

"No," I heard him say before taking a huge bite. With a mouthful of apple, he asked, "Why?"

"Oh no reason," I replied derisively.

"I smell sarcasm," he said, wagging his index finger at me.

"So you're a dog now?" I shot back, wanting to just bit his finger. _Oh gosh, that kinda could sound wrong. Oh god, why am I thinking about it like that? _

"Woof," he barked, arching an eyebrow. "Happy?"

"Ecstatic."

"Besides, it's a girl's job to be a dog," he added, smiling smugly at me, leaning against my wall.

Pointing my paintbrush at him, I smiled innocently. "I will lock you in the bathroom. With no food."

"I'll be okay, as long as you're there with me," he answered, smirking.

"Ugh, get over yourself already. For a new boy, you already are big headed."

"Only because certain people give me a reason to," he countered.

"Yeah, like who?" I challenged, placing my hands on my hips, looking up at him. He was a hell of a lot taller than me.

He just smirked in that way of his, sat down dramatically on my bed, and posed. "I'm ready for my close-up," he stated in a girly voice of his.

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><p>Hey, guys, so guess what? I worked on this on my birthday! Yeah, I'm posting this a day later because of teasers and what not, but it's my special treat to you. And as my present, (hehe) give mama some love! Okay, that sounded like 100x better in my head. Anyways, secret word: birthday. Uhm…oh yea! So there was a crazy snow storm in NJ and all the power lines went down…we had no school for three days! But then the next day, (today) we had to go to school. Poopie for me cause of my bday but oh well, what can you do? Goal: im too lazy to check cause it's like midnight and im tired aha XD<p>

Thanks guys! Sorry it has been so long! Hope you don't all kill me for it – oh wait, you can't unless you want to know where this story is going *cue evil laugh*

~Icyfirelove3

P.S. I HAD HALLOWEEN TODAY. YUP, ON A FRIDAY. SO I JUST GOT BACK RIGHT NOW (I got straight from school to here) SO SORRY THIS IS SUPER DELAYED.

P.P.S. Give thanks to CoolestxNerd for starting this story and the first three chapters!


	8. Chapter 7: Secrets

*****IF YOU ARE NOT JACELUVER14, YOU DON'T HAVE TO READ THIS! Okay, jaceluver (btw I love Jace too haha!) I cannot give you the teasers, unless you are signed in with an account because I have no idea how to give you the teaser or to reply to your really nice reviews (thanks for it, btw) So, if you do have an account, tell me in your next review, or if you don't (and don't make one) I am, unfortunately, unable to give you your teaser, which really sucks. Thanks for reading my little banter at the end there; most people do not. Anyways, thanks again for reviewing, and just tell me it's you if you make an account.*****

**Disclaimer: I don't think that Cassie Clare recently started an obsession with the Iron Fey series, so I guess I'm not her. Sadly. (But seriously, if you didn't read that series, read it NOW. Well, after my chapter anyways aha) Speaking of chapters, I DO NOT own the first three, they belong to the awesome CoolestxNerd who let me take over her story. So thank her for having me continue this lol**

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, added my story on story alert and/or fav. author. You guys can't even begin to understand how much it really does mean to me.

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><p><strong>Chapter 7: Secrets<strong>

I narrowed my eyes at him, wondering if he really was gay. They did say that gay people usually are hot…

But damn that would be a shame if that was true. Hmm, I'll ask Maia what she thinks.

"Okay," I said, dragging a mat to a clear spot on the floor. "Stand on that."

"Okie dokie," he said as he stood on the mat. "Now what?"

"Just stand there," I instructed as I got out my pastel paper – I long decided that pastel would be the best to do since it showed variations the best, as Mrs. Gilmore taught us. I propped it against my easel and settled in front of him.

I studied him trying to memorize his features in my mind. I admit, sometimes I would just simply stare at him because I just could. Not that he would know. I hope. I looked down at my blank sheet and decided to not draw his ears. I drew the edge of his face, making him look like he was looking to the side.

"Mind turning a little to the right?" I asked without looking up. When I did, he was titled to the left. "Your other right, Jace." He moved to the right, but it was off. "A little less!"

"Okay, okay. Demanding much?" he asked under his breath.

"I heard that," I said, drawing the other side of his face. I looked up at him, making faces at me. He stopped when he noticed that I was looking at him.

"You're funny," I said, sarcasm poured into my words. However, I couldn't keep the amused look off my face at the faces he was making. "You're so weird Jace." I shook my head, as if thinking it was a shame when it wasn't.

Nice to know how he kept himself entertained though. I studied his eyes – the best part of him, or at least that's what I think anyways. All of him was beauty, and he radiated like a sun.

I sighed, knowing that he probably had a girlfriend already. Anyone that would like him would. And he would be through with them within a week. That's just how things worked. Besides, he wouldn't like me anyways.

Trying to distract myself and keep up a conversation, I asked, "Are you adopted?" I have no idea _why _I asked that, much less where I got the courage to actually ask that.

I looked up, stopping the outline of the eyes I was doing with my pencil. Jace stiffened, and I could see the veins curling up his arms stick out.

I felt my cheeks heat up, and I hid myself behind my easel. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to," I said after a few moments, still not daring to look at him.

I drew all I could of his eyes but I had to look back up to get his cheek bones right. For some reason, no matter how I redrew them, they always looked _wrong_.

He met my eyes over my easel and I was tempted to look away. But I didn't. I looked back at him boldly, making sure that I was studying his cheeks in the process.

"Yes," he said when I was just about to look back down. His eyes captured mine as his words had captured my attention.

"Yes what?" I asked, momentarily confused.

"I'm adopted," he admitted, dropping my gaze.

"Oh. Well, I was just wondering since you look different from Izzy and Alex because they have black hair and yeah…" I said, trailing off once I realized that I was blabbering that that Jace really couldn't care less.

I just sat there, finishing the outline of his face and satisfied with it. I glanced at the clock, realizing that a good hour had passed. I hadn't even realize how fast the time flew by. "Wanna snack?" I asked Jace, getting up.

His eyes were glazed over but when I called to him, he shook his head, coming back from the past. "You okay?" I asked, worried that I caused this by asking if he was adopted.

I felt guilty – maybe his parents were alcoholics and he ran away and…

Swallowing the guilty lump in my throat, I walked to the kitchen, rummaging through the drawers. "Anything you want that you have in mind?" I asked, desperately trying to distract him. For some reason, I couldn't stand that look on his face – maybe his past was something that he didn't like going to.

He didn't seem too fond of those memories. "Whatever you have is fine," he answered robotically.

I narrowed my eyes but didn't say anything. I just took out the packet of cookies I had and set it down in front of him. I sat down next to him, peering at him again. His eyes were staring at nothing at all again.

I was about to open my mouth and bring him back when his eyes refocused, looking at me. "Cookies," he said with a tiny smile. "My favorite."

And just like that, all my worries faded. I just knew that I wasn't going to bring it up again. Yet.

Apparently, Jace really did like cookies. He literally inhaled the whole packet when his phone rang, belting out _I'm A Barbie Girl_. I tried stifling my giggles by covering my mouth but I guess it didn't work since Jace shot me a look and picked up.

Jace pinched the bridge of his nose, listening to whoever was chattering away on the other side. Finally, he hung up. "Nice song," I commented, smirking at him.

"That was Izzy," he said, as if it explained everything.

"Izzy as in she called you or Izzy as in she changed your ringtone?" I mused, still unable to keep from smiling.

"Both," he answered simply. "Anyways, she was commanding that I go home. My mom wants me home."

"Oh, so you're not going home to kill Izzy?" I asked, laughing.

"I never said that." He smiled and shrugged on his leather jacket – which I must say, made him look badass.

"Same thing tomorrow?" I asked as I walked him to the door.

"You can count on it," he said, slipping out the door. I closed the door and leaned against it, sighing softly.

Jace, Mr. Oh So Hot, was at my house. And I had an excuse to stare at him for a couple hours. Still, something nagged my mind, not letting me fully bathe in the glory of today.

Why was Jace so desperate to hide his past?

* * *

><p>The next morning when I saw him, he was leaning against the wall, nodding his head once in a while. All traces of what happened yesterday – zoning out and freaking out – was gone. I was almost sure that I imagined it but something still didn't feel right.<p>

It was like an annoying bee that kept following you until you gave up your food. Except Jace was going to tell _me _what he was so desperate to hide.

Two and two clicked together and I realized that Jace's past might have been the cause to make him move. Worry gnawed at the pit in my stomach and I wondered if I was safe.

The lean yet taut muscles would have me pinned down in a flash if he wanted to. Obviously whatever Izzy said on the phone yesterday – if that was even Izzy, which I was beginning to doubt – had bothered him.

Pinching his nose, it seemed, was his nervous habit, like my bad one of biting my lip. "Clary, hello, earth to Clary! CLARE-BEAR!" someone shouted next to me.

"Huh?" I asked, snapping out of my thoughts. "Sorry."

"I was just saying how they're making a new Halo! Isn't that so awesome?" he asked, traces of his annoyance at me still on his face.

"Yeah, cool Si," I said offhandedly. Boys and their Xboxes – why in the world did they think I really cared about that?

Maia, on the other hand might, but with someone with horrible coordination, even at using a controller, was not good. If I played, I would most likely end up killing myself or someone on the same team. Wait...the game was on killing people right? That's what most guy games were on anyways.

That or sports.

"You don't really care do you?" Simon asked, peering at me over his glasses. When I didn't say anything he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Fine, let's talk about something that you _do _care about. So what did you and Jace do yesterday?"

"Nothing. I basically worked the whole time he was there," I answered, not wanting to tell him that I feel as if he's hiding something. That would make Simon dislike him even more.

"Oh." He was silent for a moment. "You free today?"

"No, still working on my art pieces," I answered. Simon's face feel, and I could see just a hint of bitterness.

"With Jace? Again?" he asked.

"Aw, Si, don't be jealous. I'm just working. Unless, of course, you don't mind watching me work," I offered. When he made a face I laughed. "Told you. And besides, you know I would if I could." I smiled at him in which a way I hoped was reassuring.

"I know. Have fun spending the rest of your day with him," he said, waving at me before disappearing in the crowd. I sighed, knowing that he was still a little mad but Si was Si and he would get over it in a few minutes.

I have no idea why he was being so _jealous _of Jace. He's my best friend – he knows that. So why was he being so unlike the Simon that I know?

Jace came up to me and we started walking to our next class in silence. "Hey, what did Izzy want yesterday anyways?" I asked, trying to make conversation. Deep down, I really wanted to know why he left. Why would he be so nervous about Izzy calling him? I had to find out.

"Oh," he said, pausing for a moment, almost as if stalling. But he continued a split second later. "She wanted me to try her cooking." He made a face and I chuckled.

"What's so bad about that? Don't guy _love _it when girls cook for them? You know what all guys say 'make me a sammich'."

"That's because you never tried her cooking. I wouldn't try anytime soon too, if I was you," he advised, shaking his head a little. "I would rather eat dirty socks then her cooking."

I laughed again and I realized that maybe that's why he was nervous. But couldn't he have blown it off then? "Socks are rather disgusting – you sweat in them all day," I pointed out, trying to ignore the feeling that he was lying.

"My point exactly," he said, a smile twitching upon his lips. I gave a small smile in return, but the sinking feeling in my stomach was real. He was lying to me.

And I was going to find out why he was lying.

And about what.

* * *

><p>Short again, I'm <em>so <em>sorry about that! Anyone who has ever read my stories know that I usually write more than I have been for this story. One, I would have wrote more but I worked on this all day today for thanksgiving so I could post it tomorrow (the day after thanksgiving) for you guys as a late little gift. I bet you guys sure are thankful for this story :P

So, secret word thankful! Oh, and I'm thankful for all the lovely reviewers I have and everyone who reads this and CoolestxNerd for giving me this story. You guys should thank her too. (and for those NOT in the US, sorry about that aha) Goal: 60 and I must say, thanks a heaps for the reviews. I'm not kidding when I say they make my day. Cause they do.

Anyways, have a great day my awesome people out there reading this!

~Icyfirelove3


	9. Chapter 8: Trickery

**I know that this is late by a day (sorry) but I was SO bombed with homework that I forgot about it! Sorry, but that just shows how busy I am -_- Grrr**

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><p><strong>***Jaceluver, check the very bottom – it is bolded and will have the stars and your name again***<strong>

**Disclaimer: Do I really have to post these thing? *sigh* It makes me sad, but I am not whatever age Cassie Clare is. So, therefore, I am not her. **

But I do own what I wrote and plot and ideas and you know all that good stuff. _Except _for the first three chapters – they all go to the awesome coolestxnerd (she gave me the story to continue) Question: Anyone who read this from hers and now reading it on mine, mind telling me? Just curios. Thanks for all the reviews. Did I mention that I love you guys? No? Well, I do:)

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><p><strong>Chapter 8: Trickery<strong>

The rest of the day continued onwards like normal. Or, as normal as it could be with a suspicion of a guy you might possibly like is _lying _to you and might or might not be gay.

God, I had the worse tastes in guys ever.

I winced, remembering Sebastian. That asshole…

_Don't think about him – he's not worth your time to even _think _about him_, I told myself as I was walking down the hall to get to music class. I'm strong. I didn't need a douche like him in my life. He was worse than scum.

Walking into the music room, I kept my back straight and my head held up high. Sebastian, glanced over at me as I walked in the room – how was it that he was here so fast? – before quickly looking away. Jace elbowed me, letting me know that he also noticed.

I smiled slightly, a smug look flitting across my face. We sat down in our usual seats in the back, when Mr. Kline came in the room, setting down paperwork on his desk. Pushing his glasses up his nose, he walked to the front of the class.

"Now, boys and girls, before you warm up and practice what a few of you will later share in the period, I would like to announce that there is going to be a music talent show hosted by me." Instantously, excited whispered rippled across the students.

Mr. Kline, who looked amused, quieted everyone down. "Now," he continued, "it will be in a week or so. You must have your pieces – whether it be singing, playing an instrument or even dancing as it incorporates music in it – be submitted to me. I would love for all you to join in and a winner gets a prize."

When he said he wanted all to join, he looked directly at me. I gulped, wondering how in the world I sing in front of the _whole school_. A classroom, sure. Cheerleading with a bunch of other girls, yeah. But all eyes on me solely?

That thought was just terrifying. My bravery could only extend so far.

Everyone clapped at the end and one boy hooted before Mr. Kline let everyone work on their pieces after passing the signup sheet to the person in the front of the class to later make its way to the back and ultimately, me. Jace himself was attempting to get me to do the duet to his song.

As I was arguing with Jace that I was way too busy, Mr. Kline came up to me, smiling slightly. "Clary," he began and I immediately knew what was up. Of course he wanted me to sign up. "You are one of my most talented singers in the school. I would love to see you sign up. I could help you, if you would like."

I tried not to freak out, and tried to play it cool. "I'm not so sure, Mr. Kline. I'm busy with cheerleading and doing painting and drawings for this art show…" I trailed off, hoping he would get it.

He just looked at me, his dark eyes balancing the while hair piled on top of his head. "Think about it," he insisted.

I exhaled and agreed, knowing that was the only think I could say or do. Mr. Kline smiled and nodded at me before going to assist another student.

"I think you should do it," Jace said immediately after he left, dropping the subject of my being in his song.

"I don't know," I said doubtful, brushing my hair to the side absently.

"You're amazing," he told me sincerely, the deep tawny eyes smoldering.

Caught up in the spell, I said in a daze, "Maybe I could…"

"That's the spirit! Now you wanna sing the chorus for me?" he asked, pleased with himself.

"Don't hold your breath," I muttered, looking away from his eyes and staring at his smile. He had a nice smile, even if his incisor was chipped. One of those i-will-melt-in-my-seat-and-fall-to-the-ground-smile while still looking boyishly cute.

He rolled his eyes, humming the chorus. Intrigued, I leaned over his shoulder to read the lyrics.

"I don't think so," he said, before she shoved me lightly away, his hands warm against my skin. "Not unless you want to sing it with me. And since you didn't agree, I might also do it for the talent show _if _you sing the duet with me."

"Don't think so," I mocked, despite the curiosity burning through me.

"C'mon! You're good and you know it. Besides –"

"Don't try to sweet talk me into it," I cut in, my eyes narrowing to silts.

"As I was saying," he continued as if I didn't interrupt, "that your awesomeness will distract everyone from my horrid singing. And if you don't do it with me – you're the only good singer I know – Mr. Kline is going to pick someone for me."

"Nope," I said, popping the p.

"Please?" he asked, giving me a puppy eyes.

"Not the eyes!" I cried, covering my face with my hands. I could _never _resist those eyes. I would have to kill the person for telling him that.

He pried my hands off my face, his warm large hands covering mine easily. "Please?" he asked, his hands still holding onto mine.

Trying not to blush, I mutely agreed by nodding my head. When his face brightened, reminding me of the sun after a cloudy day, I couldn't help but be happy that I did.

"Great," he said, giving me a dimpled smile before smoothly retracting his hands from mine.

"So you're going to let me see that now?" I asked as a distraction rather than actual curiosity now.

"Yeah. Okay, so the a line is mine, and the b line is yours. I got a really good piano background going to it too," he said, surprising me.

"You play piano?" I repeated, dumbfounded. He was the jock type – now tell me, what kind of jock played the piano?

He nodded slightly. Not thinking he was going to reply, I kept reading the lyrics, realizing how emotion sweet they were. Jace didn't strike me as that type of guy – more like the one that strung girls along, playing with their hearts like a guitar.

"My parents taught me," he said quietly.

I was about to ask why he sounded so sad about it until I realized that he mean his _real _parents. As in his biological parents. "They must have been good people," I said, not knowing what else to say. I tried to picture his parents – slightly tanned, maybe on parent with the golden hair and tan, perhaps his father, and the other with the golden eyes, most likely his mother.

He nodded mutely, and I let it slide. It must be hard to lose a parent. Reflecting back on how I felt without Seb those first few days were horrible. And my parents – I would die without them.

"I'm sorry," I said, feeling depressed, knowing his sadness was a thousand times worse.

"Why? It's not your fault that they died," he said, laughing with dark and empty humor. He looked like he wanted to add something on, but stopped himself. The golden liquid of his eyes hardened into rock and were distant and cool, no longer friendly.

I let it slide.

* * *

><p>By the time art rolled around, Jace was acting more like himself – the funny, cocky guy I've known him to be.<p>

"How's your picture doing?" I asked, as I practiced drawing the eyebrows – the older woman's eyebrows were more parte during the beginning and the arch made it harder to get it right.

"Awesome," he replied sarcastically, his face set in a frown. "The table lines won't come right. Stupid trees and their lines."

I bite back a chuckle, settling for a smile instead. Jace, being a boy that he is, picked to draw a bloody knife on a table. I mean, how much more guy like can you get?

At least I knew he wasn't gay, or else he would have drawn a unicorn pooping rainbows or something. That would have just freaked me out.

"Those are the rings letting you know how old the tree is," I answered, rolling my eyes.

"Who cares how old a tree is?"

"Trees are very important," I started on my lecture, "they give us the oxygen we need to live."

"Kay, I think I got the idea now," he muttered, coloring in the table furiously.

"If you mess up, blend in white charcoal and draw over it again," I informed him. It was easy to get rid of mistakes with pastel – it was almost like drawing and erasing your mistakes with an eraser.

"It still isn't coming out right," he frusturetly said, running his hands through his hair.

"Try again," I said, knowing that he could do it. "Take a charcoal pencil if you need it. It's easier to make the lines."

"Thank you Caption Obvious," he muttered despite taking a charcoal pencil.

"No problem Caption Sarcastic," I replied, seeing his lips twitch from the corner of my eye.

While doing my pastel art, I realized that I still didn't finish the one of Jace. Not to mention that I had to make at least one more. And find a song to sing at the talent show, somehow getting stupidly sucked into it.

"You wanna come over again today? I have cheerleading, but after that?" I asked, deciding that I was done with my project. It came out good, and I was pretty satisfied with it.

"You forgot I'm on the football team," Jace reminded, flexing his arms. He was strong – almost as lean as Sebastian was.

But he was a bitch, so that was all lost on me. Him and his shallowness could both go to hell. As much as I hate to admit it, I hope Aline would crush his stupid heart, just so he would know how it feels like.

Not that I was going to let Aline know that.

But knowing the bitch queen, she probably would do that. How funny – the bitch queen _and _king were together. Maybe they'll both go to hell.

Amused with the thought, I missed what Jace said. "I'm sorry, what?"

Jace had a look on his face, one I could not decipher, before he tucked it away. "I said that after football practice I can. But I can't stay until dinner."

"That's fine," I said, secretly glad. Now what would Jocelyn say if I had someone like_ Jace _over for dinner? She wouldn't allow him to step inside the house again and lock me into my room.

"Oh," Jace added, smirking, "and we can practice that song I want to sing."

"No," was my immediate response. "Not today."

"Please?" he beseeched. "We need to get started on it.

I did not dare to look at him. If I did, I knew that I would give in. "No," I still said. I knew it was mean but I was too busy. Not to mention how that would help me fall heads over heals with him.

And I could not do that. Not so soon after my heart was shattered like glass. Jace, for one, was not the kind of person I would trust giving it to so soon.

No, it was better to keep it to myself, under lock and key.

"Pretty please with a cherry on top?" he asked, his gaze fully on mine.

I made the mistake of looking at him. One look of his golden eyes, his face so soft looking. "I'll be your best friend," Jace said in a girly voice, lips curving.

I pursed my lips, keeping them from shaping the words of a yes. "I'll help you with your song," he offered, his golden eyes burning into mine. It was like they were sticky, like honey and I was trapped in it, unable to look away.

"OK!" I said loudly, mad that he could get me to do what he wanted so easily.

Yesh, I had no while power whatsoever.

"Thanks Clare," he said, showing me a full set of teeth. And suddenly it was all worth it.

Oh god, it was going to be impossible to stay away from him, let alone try _not _to give him my heart. Looks like it was a little too late for that.

Sighing, I signed my name at the bottom of the pastel art and gave it to Mrs. Gilmore, who happily took it.

"It's wonderful Clary – I love the depth and the shadows. It would be great to make one similar like this for the art show," she said, admiring my work.

"I am doing something similar – I have a passion for drawing eyes," I responded, thrilled.

"Excellent. If you ever need help, don't hesitate to ask me." She flashed me another smile, her blue eyes kind before I went back to my seat, taking out what we call a "Done Early".

We made an outline of a drawing – I chose a rose – and then we filled it in with words that described the object. The smaller and closer the words were, the darker it looked, giving it more depth.

Mrs. Gilmore told us that learning depth and variations and perspective were very important concepts – concepts that I one hundred percent agreed with.

* * *

><p>"Okay, everyone, take five!" I announced after my team disassembled from their positions on their pyramid.<p>

Everyone went to the side table where we kept water, snacks and such.

As I was walking to get water, I heard Aline saying how she was going out another date with Sebastian. "He's taking me to see a movie," she said, her face twisted into a smirk. "You know what that means." Laughter followed and I turned in disgust.

_Whore, _I thought. "What are you looking at, Fray?" I didn't say anything, just looked at her.

"God, I know I'm pretty but you don't need the stare. No wonder Sebastion left you – we never knew you played for the other time." I bristled, her words finally getting to me.

"I'm sorry; I didn't know that _skank _and _pretty _meant the same thing nowadays. And as for playing on the other team, you would know all about that, wouldn't you?" I retorted, crossing my arms.

"It's not being a skank – it's just giving guys what they want," she answered snobbily, conviently leaving out the part about being lesbian – not that I had anything against them. She was just using it as an insult, which was just plain _wrong_.

"And the guys that _you _are with just want sex and then next thing you know, you're left in the dust," I responded, my face settling into a smug look.

"I'm sorry, I don't even think you know anything about sex, little girl. You're still a virgin, aren't you? That's because no one wants you," she sneered.

"I'm sorry, did you just smell that? I smelt a bitch whose trying to cover up for her whoring ways. It's girls, wait, you can't even be considered a girl, that give us a bad name. I hope you live a long happy live letting guys use you and when you're older, you'll end up alone." I smiled at her sweetly and I walked back to the bleachers, passing Aline on the way you shoved her shoulder into mine.

"Oops," she said sweetly, not disguising the venom injected into her voice.

"Yeah, and you can say oops when I kick your butt off _my _team. Find someone your own size to pick on." I turned back around to face her once more. "Oh wait, no one can stoop down as low as you."

Rolling my eyes, I went towards Maia and Izzy, who tried out for the team and surprising was really good. "Damn girl," Maia said, shaking her head, her shoulders bobbing. "Did you see the look on her face?"

"It was like she was going to turn into a pile of slut clothes right there," Izzy added.

I laughed lightly. "She needed a taste of her own medicine," I said. It was true. God, why couldn't she just get a life and leave me alone. Did she not have anything better to do?

"Okay, break over!" I called out loudly, clapping my hands to get their attention.

Everyone huddled around me. "Okay, we're going to practice throwing our girls up. Two people, go get the mats, and set it up. Everyone knows who's catching and throwing who?"

They all nodded. Izzy, who was also really strong, was throwing me along with Maia. "Okay, on three. One, two, three!" I shouted and I was flung into the air.

Butterflies filled my stomach, and as I twirled in the air. When I first did it, I was scared that I was going to be dropped. Talk about ouch.

But I trusted them.

As I safely landed in their arms, I smiled. "Great, now I want you guys to do it again and I'm going to supervise."

I watched all of them, surprised to find Aline doing it wrong. Aline, despite being a colossal pain in the ass was a good cheerleader.

"Aline! Fix your posture!" I shouted at her. Even though I wasn't that close to her, I could see her face transforming into a scowl.

"Again!" I commanded, determined to see them, well mostly her, do it right.

Panting, Aline managed to throw me a look of pure hatred before getting tossed up in the air. Surprised, my eyebrows shot up but by the time she landed gracefully down onto the mats, I had wiped it off my face.

I knew Aline strong…_disliked _me, but I only was mean back to her because she was. I wasn't going to just stand there and let her bully me. No, someone needed to stand up to her.

Sadly, she seemed too stubborn to back down.

Why was she so against me?

And why above all, _me? _

Of course, I wouldn't wish this on anyone else, but one can't help but wonder why the bullies picked them. Then again, we had learned since we were very little how bullies had their own insecrites.

Still, that was no excuse for what they did.

Practice ended, and luckily, Aline didn't decide to stick around and play 'Let's try to Insult Clary' game.

Hitching my tote back up my shoulder, I walked to the field, where the boys were running back from practice, their hair damp with perspire.

Jace, of course, being Jace didn't even break a sweat. When he saw me leaning against the bleachers, he headed towards me, breaking away from the sea of boys in tights.

"You waited," he said, taking off his helmet, letting the sunlight turn the gold on his head into a halo. Halo…inspiration hit me and I clung onto the image, mentally taking a picture of it.

"No, I was going to let you walk," I answered. "Now, hurry up and get changed, I have an urge to paint." When he hesisated, I gave him a pointed look which had him jogging where the rest of the herd had gone.

I sat down on one of the row of bleachers, took out a piece of paper and a pencil, and sketched my idea down onto the paper.

Satisfied with it at the end, I had just enough time to shove it into my bag before Jace came back. "Let's go," Jace said, oddly jumpy.

Jace wasn't one of those peppy people – he was more like those guys who were aloof, sarcastic, funny and everyone loved.

But never _peppy_.

Unless it came to sports. Which, by now, he should have gotten out of his system. Shaking my head, clearing my mind of thoughts, I walked back to my car, dangling the keys in my hand.

For some reason, I felt like something was going to happen. Good or bad, about me or not, I did not know. But it was just one of those feelings, that you could just feel in your stomach.

Sighing, I slipped into my car, starting the engine.

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><p>Aha! I wrote more than last time. Love me, or do you love me?<p>

Yeah…:D

So, I think the time between the weeks was a little less? Hopefully? I mean, I worked really hard on this. I mean, right now, I just spent the twenty minutes finishing this up rather than doing either a. my own personal story which I'm lagging behind in or b. and more importantly, my studying for a major test of the Greeks. (my teacher's tests are hard. She even admits it.) Secret word: math. Because who else thinks that more than half of what we learn is going to be useless unless we become a math teacher?

So…yeah. Goal: 70?

~Icyfirelove3

P.S. If you haven't checked it out already, go see my one shot called Rain Always Leads to Rainbows. It's a fluffy piece on Clace ;)

*****Jaceluver14: LMAO, you just made me laugh (though you knew that already from the lmao). You made me feel as if I was some superstar famous person aha XD**

**Oh, okay, just making sure (cause that would suck) Np, np:) Thanks for reviewing. *****


	10. Chapter 9: Real

**Disclaimer: I WROTE A BOOK AND GET PUBLISHED…yeah, no I didn't. So, that must mean I'm not Cassie. *cries in a corner* **

But I do own what I wrote and plot and ideas and you know all that good stuff. _Except _for the first three chapters – they all go to the awesome coolestxnerd (she gave me the story to continue)

And thanks for all the reviews, I love hearing from you guys!

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><p><strong>Chapter 9: Real<strong>

"Can I see?" Jace whined, his face pouty, making it look way cuter than anyone had a right to look.

I looked down before I answered, so I wouldn't be tempted to change my mind. "No."

"I think I have a right to," Jace argued, crossing his arms, a girlish gesture but somehow he pulled it off as being manly.

"Yeah, well you forced me to sing with you so you're going to wait," I said, finishing the second drawing.

The first one of his face I already finished. It was in love with the way it came out. I made the eyes pop out the most, framing them with his natural curly eyelashes, which all boys seems to have and girls lacked.

It should be the opposite, if you ask me.

The second one was one – I had no idea why the urge hit me to but it did – I drew his back, wings sprouting from between his shoulder blades to show big white wings. He was looking down an old building, tittering on the edge as if he was going to fall off and take flight.

I had no idea how Jace would react to seeing him drawn as an angel. Knowing guys like him, he would either ask why an angel or smirk and say something along the lines of me viewing him as an angel.

Which was true of course, but he did not need to know that particular fact.

"Done yet?" he asked.

Pursing my lips, I checked it over again, before finally agreeing. Jace was suddenly behind me, moving as quickly and slightly as a ghost.

He was close enough to smell, the intoxicating smell that I could drown in. Close enough that there was only mere inches separating us.

I pushed the thoughts away, focusing on the drawing again. I made the background faded – mostly grays and blues, and the building was a light, rusted red.

The gold was far by the most vibrant color on the sheet.

I turned around to face him, seeing his eyes drink in the image before him. His face was carefully neutral – something was off.

Almost as if he read my thoughts, he turned towards me, and smiled a tiny bit. "It's awesome. Although I don't think I'm cut out for being an angel."

His words and voice was light, but there was an undercurrent that told me he was being serious. Again, I wondered what he could have done so bad that he had couldn't think himself as an angel – and with looks like his, no one would disagree.

Surely he couldn't have done anything worse then perhaps cheating on a test, using girls or just being plain cocky. Right?

I wordlessly changed the picture to one that was a portrait of his face turned to the side, shadows obscuring everything else but the eyes and the white. At the very edge of the long side, liquid moonlight spilled out of the window, the white curtains billowing away from the window.

It came to rest on his face, making it a unique combination of gold and silver, his eyes a bright gold and his face washed silver laced with just a hint of gold.

His breath caught and he drunk in the photo, eyes going up and down. "This…it's just amazing. No words can really describe this, truly."

I couldn't help it; a smile stretched across my face. "How did you do this?" he asked, seriously.

It pleased me to see that someone like him was stunned with my art. Most of the inhabitants on this earth did not appreciate art unless they were artists themselves.

"I dunno," I teased, glancing at my alarm clock that pooled out a neon green light. "Let's see, four hours, not including break?"

It was seven by now. We took really quick breaks, ones that lasted only twenty minutes top, including dinner. Luckily, my mom went out to dinner with Luke so she didn't question having Jace over for dinner, let alone notice him.

"Yeah, four hours of _my _hard work. Just be happy that it's a weekend Fray or else I would have beat the bejeezus out of you for keeping me this late. Maryse is going to kill me," he said, muttering the last part.

Intrigued, I asked, "Why?"

"Huh?" he asked, swiveling his head to face me. "Oh, nothing," he muttered, shaking his head.

Temptation pulled at me. I wanted to so badly ask – but what if he closed off to me?

"What do you want the last one to be?" I questioned instead.

"Whatever you want to do, I'm sure it will be as good as the other two," he answered nonchalantly, gesturing to the pastel and painting with a wave of his arm.

"If you're sure…" I trailed off, hoping to appear uncertain when in reality I was nearly bursting inside. Ideas swarm through my head, bright and colorful, just _begging _to be painted or drawn.

"How about we work on that song instead and you come over tomorrow again?" I offered, really glad at the chance to see him during the weekend.

"I…" he trailed off hesitantly. "I don't think I can come. Izzy's dragging me shopping."

Even I could feel my face falling. I tried to mask it as I grasped for the right words to see. Stupidly, the only word that came out of my mouth was oh.

Jace just gave me a tiny smile, one corner of his mouth twitching, before he took out a many times folded slip of paper. I raised my eyebrows at it and he opened it up, showing me chords and words scribbled down.

"Well, are you going to keep gawking at it or help me practice?" Jace teased, taking the paper back.

"I didn't know you where _that _good with the piano," I muttered. Those cords were complex, even for me. And that's saying something.

Half an hour later, Jace left, saying he really had to get home. I, of course, was sad to see him go – Jace turned out to be really good company minus the witty/annoying remarks he made, even if some of them were funny (which I refused to admit).

Surprisingly, Jocelyn and Luke came back only fifteen minutes, coming rather early. They looked upset over something but I wasn't too bothered with it.

If it was something going on with Luke and Jocelyn they would figure it out. Or tell me tomorrow. No point in getting uselessly yelled at.

As I climbed into bed after I changed into my PJs, I grabbed my sketch book, and randomly started drawing.

I ended up drawing a picture of Jace – no surprise there – except he was in a leather jacket, riding a motorcycle in the air.

As much as I loved the drawing, no way in the name of hell was I going to paint _that_.

That lead my brain to think about what I should draw next. I had more time seeing as Jace wasn't going to come over tomorrow, but I couldn't help but turn over the ideas in my head.

A funny thought hit me – drawing Jace as a girl.

I quickly dismissed the idea but the thought was too funny. I stated giggling, biting my lip to keep it quiet since I didn't want my parents to think I was crazy.

Even as I drifted off the sleep, the idea of Jace being a girl humored my dreams, making my sleep more peaceful then it has been for a while.

I woke up the next morning, feeling well rested. The temptation to snuggle in my warm, soft bed was pulling at me but I shoved it aside – literally – and pulled myself out of my bed, stretching like a giant orange cat.

I could probably pass as one with my hair color.

Quickly, I hopped into the shower, washing my hair and using my favorite grape smelling shampoo before quickly getting out. I wrapped my hair up in the towel before walking into the kitchen, plopping down on the chair.

Luke and Jocelyn were mysteriously out of sight. The only clue that they were even there was the coffee leftover and sticky buns. Shrugging it off, I warmed up the sticky buns and reheated the coffee before eating it.

Let's see, what was I going to do today? Call Simon seemed like a good idea but I really was not in the mood to play Dungeons and Dragons.

I was just turning over the idea to calling Maia and see what she was doing today when the phone rang shrilly.

"I'm coming!" I yelled at the phone, rushing to get it.

"Hello?" I said, picking it up and putting the phone next to my ear.

"Way to pick up your phone Fray." Simon's voice came through the other line.

"You called?" I asked, surprised. Simon was rarely up in the morning. Being the third child his mom was totally chill and let him stay up and basically do everything that I can't.

"Yeah. Like I said before, you didn't pick up. Anyways, I got this cool game. Wanna come try it out with me?"

"What game?" I asked, suspicious.

"Halo Reach. Or we could play CoD," Simon answered. I breathed out a sigh of relief when Simon didn't answer with one of the nerd games. At least I heard of Halo from Maia.

"Sure," I answered. "By the way, wanna tell me why you're up? The sun isn't even halfway in the sky yet."

"So funny Clare. I dunno, I just woke up. I'll see you in five?"

"See you then," I answered, hanging up.

Feeling eerie alone in the house, I quickly grabbed my bag and my phone seeing that Simon had, in fact, called me before scribbling a note that I was at Simon's house. I locked up the door before driving to Simon's house.

I walked it – Simon's mom always left the door open and I knew my way around his house like the back of my hand.

"Hey Clary, want some?" Simon asked in between chewing a brownie.

"Ew Simon, don't talk while eating. And you're eating a brownie at ten in the morning?" My face turned into one of disgust. Brownie was more like a dessert after a meal that did _not _include breakfast.

"Well you don't hear me complaining about those sticky buns," Simon retorted, finishing his brownie.

"Yeah, well, that's from a breakfast and it's _suppose _to be for breakfast!"

"Whatever you see Fray," Simon said, going to his room. I followed as Simon kept chattering. "I already tried out the game, it's awesome. It has better and newer features from Halo 3 and its graphics are amazing. And there are new maps…"

Simon continued babbling about how cool it was, not noticing that I wasn't paying attention. Only when he started talking about the controls did I listen.

"Wait, what's to shoot again?" I asked, interrupting him. There were just too many keys on the damned thing.

"Okay, you know what? You only really need to know three and the joysticks. That joy stick is to move forward, right? Press down on it and you can crouch and this control where your pointer fingers go is to shoot and the triangle is to jump."

"You mean that there are more things then to just walk, jump, shoot and crouch?" I asked incredulously. God, this was unreliable complicated. How was this game system even _famous_?

"Yes Clary," Simon said patiently as he clicked some buttons.

"What are you doing?" I asked as the screen kept changing.

"I'm setting up the game. You are going to verse other people," he said, the screen finally settling on one picture and there was a countdown in one corner ad people's names shaded in blue or red.

"Robots?" I asked.

"No, _real _people. Anyways, we are the blue team. Which means you shoot the people that are red. And just follow me."

"Okay," I said uncertainly as the screen split into two.

"Am I top or bottom?" I asked, trying to move but neither screen had the person moving.

"Bottom. And we are starting in three seconds. Go!" Simon said, getting into his gamer mode.

I followed him for the most part, him killing everyone that tried to attack us – well, mainly him. Suddenly there were three people shooting at us and I saw my health flashing red. I was going to die.

"Simon!" I yelled, right before I died.

"Aw. Game over for me?" I asked, pouting. I didn't even get to kill anyone.

"No, you get reborn. Come find me if you aren't born next to me."

"Wait, you are born randomly? The fudge Simon? This game is way too complicated," I said, wondering how anyone in the world would be able to play or understand this.

"And you say that girls are smarter," he muttered under his breath as he clicked away. "Ouch!" he exclaimed when I smacked him.

"We are!" I said, trying to find him in the vast map.

"Not enough to play a game that every single male person on this planet is able to play," Simons said, moving to the side to avoid getting smacked again.

"Shut up. Ohmygosh Simon there is someone shooting me! Do something!" I shouted, already knowing that I was going to die yet again.

"I'm trying to find you!" he answered, "shoot back and jump!"

I did as he said, jumping every two seconds, making it harder to shoot me. But harder for me to shoot him too. I just kept shooting randomly. And then suddenly he was gone.

"Did I just kill him?" I asked, walking again, as my health was restored.

"Yeah! Good job Clare!" Simon exclaimed, high fiving me.

I smiled and we kept playing.

By the time it was lunch time we had played five games and we had won three. I also managed to only die only ten times or so in each level. And I even got to kill a few people too.

Simon, of course, died only as many times as I killed people. So like three or four times. And he got the amount of times I died in every single round, out of fifty points.

"Not bad Fray," Simon said approvaling as he took out the sandwiches that his mother had made for us sometime before.

I smiled. "I caught on…slowly but hey, I'm a girl."

"Really? I would have _never _guessed." I rolled my eyes and took a bite out of the sandwich.

When we were halfway through our sandwiches, the doorbell rang. "Who's that?" I asked, as I saw Simon get up and open the door.

He didn't answer so I craned my neck to see the front door. Suddenly, a familiar head popped into view. "Maia! I didn't know you were coming." I pointedly looked at Simon, who was suddenly very interested in his shoes.

Maia elbowed Simon in the ribs, who then immediately looked up. "Surprise?" Simon said, raising his hands with his palms facing the sky, his elbows slightly bent.

I glared at him and Maia placed her hands on her hips. "Was it so hard to say that I was coming to teach you guys who's boss?"

"Hey!"

"True," I said as the same time Simon spoke.

"What, it's true." Maia, shrugged, a smile spreading across her face.

"I'll show you!" Si said, and they both marched off to his room, lunch forgotten.

I sighed before discarding my own food to make sure no one kills each other.

Five games later and a bunch of yelling and colorful words, we all agreed that Maia was the best.

Each time Maia's overall score was higher than Simon's even if he got more kills. Apparently, the better person is when they have more kills then deaths. So if Si gets 12 kills but dies 14 times then his score is negative two. If Maia got only 8 kills but only 4 deaths then she has a positive four score and therefore she wins.

Which made sense, well somewhat to me anyways.

After that, we basically all took turns, and Maia helped me with a few pointers and tips so by the time it was three in the afternoon, I was getting really low negative scores.

"You'll be good in no time," she had reassured me.

We took a few breaks, eating some food and finally finishing our lunch when I decided to head back home at four-ish.

Surprisingly enough, my parents had not called me yet to check up on me and I was gone since about ten in the morning.

I started the engine and went to a store to get some chocolates at this store that was right next to my favorite art supply store, hoping that would make them less angry at me.

Not to mention that I needed a few more art supplies with the amount I used up for the ones of Jace.

I picked out an oil paint set that had three colors in various shades: gold, silver and black/gray. It was perfect.

Tossing in a few more drawing pencils and erasers, I went up to the cashier and paid. He smiled at me, recognizing me and gave me a discount. The guy was so sweet.

He was elderly, around his sixties with a white beard and hair tied back in a low ponytail. He sold his paintings sometimes for extra cash and was such a sweetheart.

"Bye!" I called out to him as I left.

I hadn't found any parking, so I had parked farther down the street. The bag bumping lightly against my thighs, I was close to where I parked when someone tapped my shoulder.

Turning around, I met stormy gray eyes. "Can I help you?" I asked, hoping that my voice wasn't betraying my true emotions. That guy was huge, as if he spent every moment he to working out. I had no doubt that if he lifted up his shirt that I could find a six pack, or eve an eight back.

But there was something about him that was off.

And that scared me.

"Yes, actually you can," he said, before he reached inside his jacket. I knew all too well that he was going to pull out a gun from the numerous movies I've watched that happened.

I started running, the bag now thumping wildly against my leg, not meeting anyone else on this empty street.

My breathing grew quick and ragged as I scanned the street for my car. It was then that something shoved me to the side and I felt the cool metal at my neck.

The blade of it was just kissing my neck, not enough to draw blood but enough to get that he couldn't hesitate to use the knife.

Quickly, I took in my surrounding. He had dragged me into a nearby alley, one that was dark and sketchy. _Shit, _I thought. _Shit shit shit shit shit._

This was a like a scene from a movie.

The only difference was that it was _real_.

* * *

><p>Hey guys! So I decided from being in the holiday spirit, to write all this glory of 3,000 something words on Christmas Eve instead of wrapping the many gifts that I have to give. I know for some of you, it will be a day after Christmas, and I apologize for that but pretend it's a late Christmas present?<p>

(For those Jewish…a late Hanukah present? Or just a winter gift aha) so...the word. I decided to play it up a little. It has to be something relating to the winter, like snow or Christmas or hot chocolate (you can do w.e. you want) but make sure it's in caps so I know. Kay?

Thanks, love you guys!  
>I'm so thankful to have you lovely reviewers.<p>

I know this seems like this doesn't have any sort of plot yet…but you will see it. Trust me, it's underlying all this stuff and once you find out, you will be like 'oooo'. Also, I'm extremely sorry for the crappy updating (and this gigantic A/N) but you have no idea how school is bombarding me with work. I finally have winter break though! Only one week sadly, but hopefully I will be updating more, I make no promises but I will try my best.

I hope Santa gives me Clockwork Prince… ;)

Anyways, have a great day and hopefully you all got something you wanted! Sorry again for being so horrible. I don't know why you guys still even read this. But i love you guys for doing so anyways3

~Icyfirelove3

**Fun Fact (you can skip over this) **

**The title Real, was insprired by the Hunger Games ;) I was tempted to make the chapter name real or not real but i didnt...GO HUNGER GAMES. Sorry Cassie..just really excited for the movie (which is one the 23rd of march for those in the US, and yes, i did memorize that date.) **


	11. Chapter 10: Sticky Fingered Lies

**Disclaimer: I took the quiz on the fandom and I got a warlock. I guess that means that I'm not Cassie since I have no idea what she would be. Although, I do like the idea of shooting blue light out of my fingertips. **

Hey guys! Sorry for the cliffy, you know how I do. It's been a while since I've done one. Anyways, thanks for reviewing, adding this story on story alert or any of that other good stuff that makes me want to find each one of you and give you a big hug/smile. Not in a creepy way or anything.

Anyways, on with the show.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Ten: Sticky Fingered Lies<strong>

"Now little girl," he said, bending down to be the same height as me. "Follow everything I saw okay?" I nodded my head. "Good girl."

Angered, I wanted to snap at him to not call me 'little girl'. Just because I was short doesn't mean I was younger. "Now, give me all your money."

Taking my wallet from my pocket, I cursed remembering that I had left my messenger bag in the car. I had pepper spray in there. Just my bloody luck.

I gave it to him without taking my eyes off the gleaming silver that was perched at my neck. The man grabbed it from me, not unlike an animal, and opened it.

I gulped, knowing that all I had in there was a few dollars and loose change. "This is all you have little girl?" he snarled at me, the metal digging deeper into my skin, just enough to draw a trickle of blood.

"Well, a little girl wouldn't have much money, now would they?" I retorted, raising my eyebrows at him. I was surprised by my bravery, that I would say such a thing that would get someone killed.

But if I was going down, I was going down with a fight.

The knife dug a bit deeper into my skin, the stream becoming a bit heavier with the blood. It slid down from my neck to across my collarbone before finally stopping. Suddenly, the knife was taken away from my neck.

Not a second later, I was slapped across the face, hard. Unwillingly, I put a hand to my cheek, which was turning from being on fire to numb.

I would bet all my drawings that I would have a handprint there or in the very least, become swollen.

Eyeing the knife that was now by his side, I wondered if I could make a break for it. A smile twisted upon his lips, looking cruel and mauled, as if he knew what I was thinking.

Before I could think things through, I sprung on instant. I swiftly stole the knife from him as I kneed him in the groin, resulting in him doubling over in pain.

Hesitating, I stomped on his foot as hard as I could, and pushed him hard before sprinting away, not daring to look back.

Even back on the street, I still ran for my life, as if hell was running after me. I fished in my pocket for my car keys, fingers just barely touching them when I was yanked back and shoved against the wall, hard enough to leave scraped from when the bricks jutted out.

_Damn my short legs, _I thought as his fingers clamped down on my shoulders, tight and meaty. The man's face was warped in a cunning smile, almost as if this was a game to him.

It most likely was.

"Did you think," he whispered, letting the cool metal of the knife bite my skin as he traced it across my collarbone, "that it would be that easy?"

I didn't answer; I just gritted my teeth in attempt to not smack him. That would make things so much worse than they already are. "I like it," he whispered, his face coming close to my ear, enough that I could see faint lines marring his face, "when my prey gives me a chase."

I shuddered, before realizing that I still held the knife in my hand. I tried to move my arm in a way that my body would conceal it from his eyes but his eyes caught the movement. "My knife," he smiled, clamping harder down on my shoulder, enough to make me want to cry out.

With a shaking arm, I brought it up, almost as if dropping it in his palm when I jabbed it in the space behind it, where the skin just connected his arm to his shoulder. I drove it in as deep as I could, leaving him howling in pain.

I tried to escape, but even in pain he blocked my path. Shoving against him did no good – he wouldn't budge an inch. Trying repeatedly would only bruise me some more – if I were to live long enough for that. I was too petite to do that much damage.

Feeling the frustration and helplessness getting to me, I kicked out at random, getting him in the shin. He howled even more, sounding like a wounded animal. Still, he did not move.

Suddenly, he was out of my sight, yanked back by some unknown force. I spotted a flash of gold and gawked as he brought the man up against the wall, holding him by his jacket, the look on his face that could only be described as fierce.

"And what," Jace spat out, "do you think you're doing?"

The man sputtered, and tried clawing at him but to no avail. Even from the distance I was at, I could see the muscles rippling beneath the fitted red shirt. Some of the words were carried down to me by the wind. "Don't bring….girl…answer to _me_." A few more words were exchanged before, with a finally tug, he let him go, sprawling on the ground in a helpless heap on the floor.

"Clary?" Jace asked, coming up to me, his worried face filling my line of vision. "Are you okay?"

I nodded my head, feeling sick. His eyes scanned me head to toe, lingering on my neck and cheek. He pursed his lips, an angry look flittering across his face. "I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner," he sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Although you did seem to handle yourself pretty well."

He allowed a small smile to creep up on his lips. I nodded again, unable to speak. "Clary?" he asked, studying me.

With a final look – most likely thinking that I was still in shock or numb, which I kind of was – he threw his arms around me, crushing me against his bigger size. His fingers ran through my hair comfortingly while the other arm was around my waist. "I'm so sorry Clary, I'm so sorry," he whispered into my hair.

I didn't pull back but questions crossed my mind. "Why are you sorry? You just saved me" I asked, voicing my thoughts.

He just shook his head and pulled back. "C'mon, let's go put some ice and bandages on that," he said, walking towards my car.

"Wait," I said, stopping him a few feet away from my car. "I thought you were suppose to be with Izzy today?" I asked, sounding stupid even to my own ears.

"I am…I was. Look, that's not the matter right now. I should get you home first and then we can talk."

"No," I replied, crossing my arms and planting my feet on the ground.

"So stubborn," he muttered under his breath. "Fine, what do you want to know?"

"What did you say to him?" I asked, jerking my thumb in the general direction behind me.

"Some things," he answered vaguely, a strange look coming across his face.

"Fine," I said frustrated at his refusal to answer. "What were you doing here?"

He didn't answer, just gazed at me with those gold eyes. "Look, let me take you home and we can talk there," he offered again.

I just look at him, refusing to say anything, which caused him to sigh. We walked up to me and dragged me towards my car. "C'mon," he said.

"No," I repeated again, refusing to get in. His grip on my arm tightened, and I winced. That was going to leave a bruise, I was sure.

"Get in the car Clary," he said in a flat, no nonsense voice.

"Jace. Jace! Ow, you're hurting me." His grip had tightened even more, trying to force me to get into the car. At the sound of my voice, or my pleading, he loosened his grip on me.

"What the hell Jace?" I asked, yanking my arm back, resisting the urge to give him a good smack in the face. What had come over him?

He just stood there, blank and empty. "I want to know what's going on," I said, gazing at him. When he stood there motionlessly, I went to the other side and unlocked the car and climbed in.

Today was too weird. Jace, the person who just saved me, just hurt me. And now he's like a freaking statue.

My eyes flickered to his through the window, which were still emotionless, before headed back home. I tried turning on the radio to drown the bound to be flood of thoughts that were going to invade my mind but it didn't work.

Questions like why he was there, and who was that man bounced around my mind, persistent . Sighing, I hit the button, turning off the radio. Placing my hands firmly on the wheel and looking where I was going, I decided to let myself wonder why Jace was there.

I recalled that he said he was going shopping with Izzy yesterday and that's why he was unable to come. It didn't come even close to adding up why he was there. One, he wasn't shopping. And two, and frankly more importantly, he wasn't even with Izzy.

If he had been with Iz, it would have made somewhat more sense. But she wasn't. Therefore, that meant that Jace had lied to me.

It wasn't the fact that he had lied to me that bothered me – well, that much anyways – but the fact that he couldn't say he what he was doing here when I had asked him. Jace was stalling, buying time to search for an answer to give to me.

There was a deep sinking feeling that there was more to the picture that met the eye.

When I got home, the anger was still rooted around my heart but it was clouded by suspicion. There had to be a reason why he was lying. No one just went around lying for no goddamned reason.

I was surprised by how much I actually cared about that. I mean, I had only known him for so long. And yes, I might be – okay I totally am – developing a crush on him, but to deeply affect me like that?

Frowning at that thought, I got out of the car, and walked into my house. When I plopped down on my bed, I figured out why I cared so much. It was because after so traumatizing – I mean, I was mugged and who knows what else could have happened – that I was so emotional.

Willing to believe that, I took out my homework, knowing that I better do it now rather than later. Before I had even gotten my all my papers out, my phone vibrated. Deciding to ignore it, I had finally gotten everything I needed out when it vibrated again. And again.

Irked, I picked it up. "Hello?"

"Clary, I need to talk to you," he breathed, sounding like he just had run a marathon.

Immediately, all my annoyance washed away, hearing my best friend so excited. I wonder what had made him like that – certain it wasn't a new video game, I mean he just taught me how to play one!

"Yes?" I drawled, putting the phone between my shoulder and ear as I got up, rummaging around my desk for a regular number two pencil.

"Okay, so after you left –"

"Ohmygod, Si, please do not tell me that you kissed Maia. You know how Kyle –"

"It's not that," Simon interrupted, sounding impatient. "After you _and _Maia left, Izzy came over."

"You invited her?" I asked, unable to hid the shocked that filled my voice. "And she played _video games with you_?"

Izzy was a lot of things, but tomboyish was not one of them. She was tall, and beautiful. She could get any guy she probably ever wanted.

But Isabelle Lightwood did not play _video games_.

That was too much of a shock to bear. "No! Let me finish Clare," Simon said, exasperation laced in his words. "She came over, and I didn't invite her."

I couldn't help it, I had to ask. "Why?"

"I didn't know. She just walked right in and we talked for a bit. And then," Simon said, his voice dropping lower, talking in a hushed voice even though his mother was so chill that she would ever eavesdrop on him. "She kissed me."

Shocked filled me first, before I realized that was probably one of Simon's pranks. "Yeah right Simon. I'm not as stupid as you think I am."

"I'm being serious!"

"That's what you said last time when you pranked called my house phone saying you were some stalker dude who adored me for years."

"Admit it, that was funny and you totally fell for it."

I rolled my eyes, despite the fact that he couldn't see. "That's beside the point. I know you're trying to prank me again."

Simon exhaled on the other line, and I smiled. I _knew _he was lying. Who knew that Izzy would go for the nerdy boys rather than getting any of the hottest guys in our school.

_Except for Jace, _I amended in my head. I knew why I was happy about the particular fact – so that I could hopefully have him myself. Deep down, I knew that he would never like me.

He was a flirt, and that was that.

Sure, he may date, but after a week or when he grew bored of them, he would toss them aside, recycling them.

And I didn't want to be with someone like that.

"You're right. She didn't. _But _one day she will. I'm telling you."

"Yeah," I laughed, "keep telling that to yourself."

"You're not nice, Fray," Simon muttered.

"When did I ever say I was?" I asked, a smile curling on my lips.

He was silent for a moment, before he responded. "Touché."

"So you have a thing for Izzy huh?" I inquired, already knowing the answer. I felt a smile already fixed on my face but it dropped when I realized what Izzy could do to Simon.

"No," he said too quickly. I wanted to smile and frown at the same time – it was almost like laughing and crying at the same time as well.

On one hand, it was adorable that Simon liked Izzy and vice versa.

But Izzy, in her stilettos, will break his heart with her pointed heels.

Struggling to keep her tone light, she teased, "Uh-huh. Tell it to the judge."

Apparently Simon could not tell that anything was off since he teased me back. "And who's the judge?"

I bit back a smile. "Clary, really, don't worry about me. I know you think I'm a ladies' man," he said, pausing since I was laughing too hard, "but I will be fine."

"Whatever you say," I giggled.

"Good. Now I have to go, bye Clare."

I barely got out a bye when I heard the phone click. I shook my head, hoping that Si's heart wouldn't get broken any time soon.

Not to mention how awkward that would make everything between all our friends. Choosing between us would not be good or fun. Praying that it never came to that, I started my homework again.

Not a minute later, my phone buzzed again. Sighing, I glanced down at the screen, to see if it was even worth picking up; at this rate, I wasn't going to finish in five years.

To my surprise, there was a unknown number flashing across my screen. Curiosity getting the better of me, I picked up. "Hello?"

For a second there was no answer. Then a tumble of words poured through the speaker of the plastic device. "Clary, you're okay. I'm so sorry about what happened earlier – I don't know what came over me. You're okay right?"

Realizing it was Jace, I was stunned into silence. When I finally got my mouth to function like it was suppose to, the only thing that came out of it was a stupid question. "How did you get my number?"

I heard Jace sigh, almost as if he was expecting it but was hoping that I wouldn't ask anyways. "I got it from Simon," he replied.

"How did you get Simon's number?" I inquired. The last time I checked, they weren't friends _friends_.

"I – look, it doesn't matter, okay?" he said impatiently. "I just want to know if you're okay. And if you forgive me."

For a heartbeat I didn't answer, just heard him breathing lightly on the other side of the phone. "I want to know what happened. And why you lied."

He didn't answer right away and if it wasn't for the noise on the other line, I would've thought he hung up. Finally, he answered. "It depends on what you want to know."

"I want to know why you lied," I repeated.

"I thought I was going to go shopping with Izzy. She canceled on me," he said, a logical and reasonable explanation. However, I didn't think he was telling the truth. Izzy, for all the time I've known her, would never do that. And even if she did, why didn't he tell me so before?  
>And why did I have to keep asking him?<p>

It was as if he was stalling for time.

"Okay," I say slowly. "How did you know that guy?"

"I don't," he answered right away.

"Then what did you say to him?" Asking him question after question made me feel like a police officer, as if I was investigating something. And, I was. Jace was hiding a deep, dark secret. Of course the new kid who's insanely hot would have issues.

Just my luck.

"That's not important," he responded, his voice taut.

"Then why won't you tell me?" I countered. This game was getting old – I wanted answers, and I wanted them _now_.

"It's just – don't worry about it, 'kay?" His voice took on a pleading note.

Somehow, I succumbed to it and let it drop. "Fine. Anyways, I really have to do my homework, so I'll talk to you later Jace."

"Bye Clary," he said in response, sounding lighter than before.

"Bye," I said before I hit the end button. I leaned against my bedpost, and just stared at the ceiling for a bit. I had a feeling things were going to get complicated, and change fast.

Licking my lips, I vowed that I would find out what secret Jace was harboring, no matter what.

I started my homework again, but not really focusing. My mind was going a million miles a minute, thinking of the ways I was going to pry the secret out of Jace, like a dentist pulling out teeth.

I was going to find out, no matter what.

* * *

><p>Secret Word: medicine, since I just got over being sick and had some nasty medication. Not that you would want to hear about that :P<p>

Okay, I am REALLY REALLY REALLY sorry. I know it's been a little over a month. I swear to god, I have a good reason. One, I actually wrote almost all of this during break, finishing it by January. Then I got a shiz load of work and midterms to study for.

And right after that, I got the worse fever and infection ever. Pay back, I guess, for not getting sick in four years. So I was out for a week, and I couldn't even write since I was shivering and sleeping all the time. Of course, right after that, I got writer's block. The ending of this, I couldn't think of anything.

So I apologize for its extreme crappiness and how late this is. For anyone still following me on this, I thank you.

~Icyfirelove3

P.S. Anyone else read CP? Thoughts? I'm still flipping out.

P.S.S. I got a tumblr, if you guys wanna follow me. It's xxeveryrosehasitsthornsxx and then dot tumblr dot com.


	12. Special Note

Okay, I KNOW it's been such a long time and each time I've been saying I'll try to update faster.

And truly, I have. Two weeks after I uploaded the other one, I was almost (only a few hundred more words) done. But then, my basement was being re-done. So that basically screwed up my internet and my laptop can't connect with the internet. So I took my sister's old laptop (sadly, it overheats every hour -_- but better than nothing) and i've been using that. The thing is, she still uses it sometimes and I had no idea how to delete the history on the old internet explorer so I finally found out how so that's why I can post this note (no one in my family knows I write FF, or write in gerneal.) So, until my house is done constructing and whatnot, I will NOT be able to post it.

That may take another month or two, which I know seriously sucks. On the bright side, I will be writing on it so the updates should come faster.

Since I am also not allowed to just have an authors note, I decided to re-type a part of the next chapter for you guys! (btw this isn't edited yet so I apologize in advance for mistakes and also I might change some of it, so yeah)

The horrible person that just did it to him just stared; the only movement he made was adjusting his black hat that rested on top of his head. Quickly, he picked up the boy, and threw him into a dumpster before walking away like nothing happened.

Disgust and horror did not even begin to describe the words that filled me. I wanted to run, run up to the man, to see who this inhumane being was but my feet were rooted to the ground. I kept staring at the spot where the evil man had walked away until I heard thunder clap and rain pattering on the ground.

Hope you guys enjoyed that!

Again, I am deeply sorry; I feel like poopie for doing that to you guys.

~Icyfirelove3

P.S. I read this AMAZING book that just came out called _Incarnate _by Jodi Meadows, and it pretty good, so if you want to read it, check it out! It's a really cool idea and reincarnation and just awesome.

P.S.S. I still am on my tumblr (thank god for that) so if anyone wants to follow me (i made a Shadowhunter blog as well! XD) message me or something...

Yeah.

P.S.S.S. If anyone cares, there is this website called 750words dot com that basically encourages you to write every single day 750 words (which is like 3 pages or something). I've been using that for my own book (aha yes, my very own idea!) and it works awesomely. It has badages and points and this signup thingy that makes you want to write everyday, so I highly recommend it! (and if you do use it, i would love to know what you think of it afterwards!)


	13. Another note, sorry

I apologize that I haven't been on months. I know that you're going to think this is some lame excuse (which i cannot blame you for)

But I was really busy righting my own novel for the past 9 months (hence the slow down of my fanfiction - and if anyone cares, I finished it :D) And I promised myself that when it's summer I would do them and it's already been almost a month into summer break and I didn't do it, so I apologize.

After today (it's like 1 at night for me) I promise I will try to upload it more often.

As of now, I am not giving up _any _of my stories; I _will _finish _all _of them.

If I _do _decide to not continue to finish them, I will inform you, but I doubt that I will not.

Anyways, so thank you if you stuck through this with me! I love all of you guys!

I hope nobody hates me too much!

(it sucks because in two weeks I'm going to cali for three weeks so no time to write then so during then, i think i get an excuse! but other than that, I _swear _I will try to update)

Sorry for being horrible.

Thank you all again!


	14. Chapter 11: Dreams and Reality

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own anything but the plot idea/what i wrote. **

****Thanks to all those who waited, seriously, and who read this story and reviewed and followed and all that good stuff!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 11: Dreams and Reality<strong>

Not being able to concentrate on my homework, I shoved it aside and just got ready for bed. It was a strange and not to mention tiring day. I just needed to escape from that for a while and sleep offered that.

As soon as I got comfy, I passed out within five seconds flat.

*Dream*

_The night was dark and silent, and it seemed like I was in an alley, not unlike the one that son of a bitch shoved me into before. Goosebumps rose on my arms since it was too dark to see anything. Once my eyes adjusted to the dimness, I saw two figures appear seemingly out of nowhere. _

_The one that was pressed up against the wall was shockingly familiar, though I could not put a name to the face. A taller figure, clad in all black was fuzzy, like I was attempting to see underwater. I crouched behind a garbage can and watched. They seemed to be talking - well, the fuzzy person was anyways. _

_The one that seemed familiar had a panicky look on his face, and was deathly pale. He kept shaking his head, while the other one would jab a finger to his chest. _

_That's when the dark clad person finally got fed up and punched the guy square in the jaw. He stumbled backwards. The one that punched him shoved his head into the brick wall and there was a sickening crack that pierced the darkness like a gunshot. _

_Now, the guy really was deathly pale as he slumped towards the floor. The horrible person that did it to him just stared; the only movement he made was adjusting his black beanie that rested on top of his head. Quickly, he picked up the boy, and threw him into a dumpster before walking away like nothing happened. _

_Disgust and horror did not even begin to describe the words that filled me. I wanted to run, run up to the man, to see who this inhumane being was but my feet were rooted to the ground. I kept staring at the spot where the evil man had walked away until I heard thunder clap and rain pattering on the grounds. _

I woke up with my heart trying to beat out of my chest, cold sticky sweat trickling down my back. When I heard another resounding boom, I realized that the thunder was not part of my dream.

Still, it shook me and I closed my eyes, willing myself to go back to sleep. The dream was a bad omen, for sure. Something about it was unsettling and just plain _wrong_. However, the night had other plans for me. No matter how much I tossed and turned in bed, I couldn't seem to catch a wink of sleep.

Following the electric white light, the thunder continued to boom outside. Glancing at the clock, I found out that it was three hours after midnight. Groaning, I turned to my head, grabbed the other pillow and put it over my face.

I awoke again at sometime early in the morning. Realizing that I wasn't going to get any more sleep, no matter how hard I tried, I got up. Quickly brushing my teeth, I headed into the kitchen with an extremely distressed looking Jocelyn. She was talking into the phone, her face taut, and a hovering Luke who didn't seem to know what to do.

As soon as she put the phone down, I said, "Mom? What's wrong?"

She glanced at me, as if she hadn't even noticed I was there. "Nothing, dear. Why don't you have some breakfast?"

Sliding into the seat, I steadily stared at her. "Mom," I said again. "I can handle it. I deserve to know."

"I know honey, it's just so shocking." Still, her lips were sealed.

"Joce, I think you should tell her," Luke urged, massaging her shoulders.

"I know," she replied, almost as if I wasn't there. Swallowing my anger, I waited as she gathered the words that had shaken her so.

She took a deep breath before telling me. "Now please honey, don't get mad. About two or three weeks ago, your cousin, Jonathan, went missing." Dread knotted up in my stomach and I knew the words that were coming out next. "And they found him this morning. His body was in a dumpster."

Each word was like a dagger being plunged into my gut. I felt the wind being knocked out of me and I doubled over, gasping.

It was unbelievable, and yet I already knew. It shouldn't be a surprise to me but it was. I shouldn't have known but I did.

Jocelyn looked concerned, but looked like she was expecting this reaction. "I know you two got along really well, but I'm so sorry honey."

"How long have you known for?" I spat.

"Excuse me?" she asked, taken aback, her face pale.

"How long have you known that he was missing for?" I asked, feeling as if I could have done something, even though I most likely couldn't have.

"A while," she admitted. At least she had the decency to look ashamed.

"And you didn't tell me _why_?" I inquired, anger rising despite my best efforts to keep it down.

"I didn't want to worry you unnecessarily," she sighed, raking a hand through her copper hair.

"You still should have told me," I said quietly. I felt numb, as if reality hasn't set in yet. But it did set in, last night.

The person in my dream _was_ Jonathan, the familiar face that I couldn't put a name to. It was extremely weird to know that I dreamed about his death, _exactly _the way it happened the night before I found out.

He was like my brother to me, even though in reality he was my first cousin. We talked all the time when he used to live near us. Once his mom got a new job to better support their family since his father, Valentine had died, we didn't talk for a while but we were still close.

I couldn't wrap around my head that I would never see Jonathan's smiling face again. The person that helped me first ride my bike, despite the fact that once he told me he had lifted up the training wheels so it only _looked_ like it was helping when it wasn't, which lead me to fall and get a bad cut on my elbow. Boys being boys, he had laughed for a full two minutes before helping me.

I, however, had not found anything funny in the situation.

The knot in my stomach clenched and I quickly went to my room, which I promptly locked.

The dream had scared me, yes, but to know that it had come into reality was horrible. Tears threatened to spill from my eyes, the world blurring into blobs of shapes and colors. Rubbing my eyes with the back of my hand, I fished out my iPod playing my favorite playlist while taking out my homework that I was unable to finish the night before.

Instantly, my thoughts flipped back over to the dream. Biting my lip, I forced myself to listen to the music, helping me relax. I stayed like this until I finished my homework, still listening to the music. It was more comforting than anything else in the world could be right now.

Still, my thoughts strayed. If only I could have seen the attacker, I kept thinking. Maybe then I would be able to put him behind bars. That's the least I could do for Jonathan. What was the point of the stupid dream if it wasn't going to help me justify his murder?

The rest of the day passed like this, uneventful and numb. When it was dinnertime and I still wasn't myself, Jocelyn took it upon herself to try to get me to speak. "You want to hear some good news?" she asked, the only thing that she's said all night that actually interested me.

Warily, I nodded my head.

"I got an art studio, and you can work in it too, with me, if you like." The smile on her face was genuine but there was still a haunting look in my mom's eyes. Guiltily, I realized that his death hadn't only had an effect on me.

"Yeah," I said, my voice sounding rough, as if I hadn't used it in days. I cleared my throat. "That would be great." Jocelyn smiled, clearly happy that I wasn't mad at her anymore. I tried to smile back, but the fact that I never will see Jonathan again was imprinted in my mind.

I swore if I ever found the person that killed him, I would never let them live to see another day.

* * *

><p>I know this is super short, but I was having trouble writing after that for a long time so I finally decided just to post this. I was going to do it sooner but I was gone for a month to Cali, so I was unable to. I know you don't want to hear my sucky excuses. tell me what you think! Secret word: cali!<p>

Thanks for reading!

~Icyfirelove3


	15. AN AND PLOT LINE FOR STORY

Hey so I know it's been about...2 years since I've last published anything on fanfic. I would just like to say, anyone who recently has reviewed, that I _have _read it, and I love you for reviewing my old stories(: I try to reply, but sometimes I forget.

Anyways, since I am most definately _not _going to return to write on fanfic, i thought I should at least give you the plot line of this story and how it was going to relate.

Now keep in mind, the first three chapters was written by another fanfic user for whom I used to beta for. She asked me to continue her story, and I'm sad to say that I never completed her story. But I know she would want you guys to know how the story would end at lesat, and I'm _so _sorry that I am doing two years later.

This is word for word, what CoolestxNerd wrote to me as for how she wanted the plotline of the story to go.

"As for Jace, my plan for him was that Jace's parents were killed when he was 14 years old or around that age you can change it however you see fits. Jace blames himself because his best friend Jonathan was involved in a gang therefore, Jace was involved in a gang too. He dealt drugs and did all that illegal stuff that comes along with gangs. The people that killed his parents were looking for him. His dream was a memory of a boy that he killed when he was looking for the people who killed his parents. When Isabelle says " don't do this again" in chapter 2 she means when Jace was looking for the killers he attacked everyone which ended up with them leaving. I definitely want the boy that he killed to in some way connect with Clary."

Now of course, I was allowed to change thigns and such, and I had to go back and skim what I wrote (which i apologize for now, because looking back on this two years later I realize how much it sucked) and the boy that Jace killed was sebastian, who I made Clary's cousin (if i remember correctly).

I was going to have Clay and Jace start falling for each other and probably being together, and then they have their relationship issues because of Jace's dark past and then the ultimate blow is when she found out that Jace killed sebastian.

And I remember I got one anon review under the name Sasha saying how i suddenly introduced sebastian and i should have introduced her closeness with him sooner, and I agree I should've but I had recieved that plot line above ^ after I started continuing her story, and I realized I had to introduce that asap and with fanfic, it's hard to go back and fix what you wrote because not everyone will read what you fixed and blah blah blah. But you were write. But writing takes practice and such(:

Thank you for telling me the truth tho anon, and as for the other anon asking to pass along the story to someone else because it's not fair to the readers, well, I am not going to pass it along now obviously. As for it not being fair to my readers, I am under no obligation to finish a story, or continue or pass it along. it was with _my _free time to write this story and there is no one I would pass the story along to that is still on fanfic. It is not fair to _me _that you ask me of this. I understand you want to see the story continue but I am not a published writer, and therefore have no commitments to anything. I have an older story that i did finish, which was very long, and if you wish, you can read that.

As for this, it will not be continued. CoolestxNerd passed this story along to me, and I am not longer in contact with her, and I will not pass the story along to anyone unless she wanted me to.

Thank you everyone, who has followed this story, and left nice lovely reviews, means a bunch to me(:

P.S. I would seriously thank Ramanaddict for PMing me about this story, so I remembered to give you guys the plot line.

Thanks for being the best readers ever and making fanfic a good and fun experience for me!

~Icyfirelove3


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